Hosepipe ban

Hi Axl,
Most water authorities are saying they will impose all those regulations.

In your previous post you said "you can also use a jet wash as long as it's not for the garden or car. you can clean your paths and pretty much anything else too" but I think you'll find that you can't do that as the jet wash is connected to the tap by hose. According to someone from the authority being interviewed on the radio, pressure washing patios is not allowed unless they are done by someone contracted for the job. In other words:- it's alright for a business to do it but not a private person. Of course, you could always contract someone to do it and they can sub-contract it to you :WINK1:

Goosegog,
Anything done using a watering can is OK.

gcc,
piping around the garden and water running from a tap:- OK technically, yes - but there is likely to be something (not in the drought order) that says you mustn't keep taps running unattended or you may get your wrist slapped. Of course, standing by the tap directing water into irrigation channels is likely to get around that.

Dim - quote "I prefer the system where you have a mist nozzle that sits above the ground and that can be seen when it works ..." - That wouldn't be allowed under the drought order. The water must run directly into the soil and not travel through the air.

Can't find any info on seeper pipes at the moment but I would guess they would come under the trickle/drip permission as it's directly onto the soil.

 

Doesn't surprise me, pete.

The water companies are saying that sorting the problem out is a long term thing. so what happened to the last twenty years when they did nothing?

They bleat on about us using some water for our plants and don't run the tap whilst cleaning our teeth whilst 25% of their water is lost through leaks. OK, they have reduced it from over 30% - big deal!!!!

They reckon, now that they're thinking about it, that it will take a minimum of 15-20 years to set up pipelines from the north and west - if they decide to do it. They've already agreed that they could sort out a lot of the problems by building more reservoirs, which would be much quicker and cheaper. If they also went into an intensive pipe repair programme they could whittle down that 25% loss much quicker.

Don't know about 'getting their fingers out', they want to get them stuck into the leaks!!!

 

These people aren't always right.

Some years ago a couple of houseowners in the next village were taken to court over watering their lawns. They were fined.

 

I'm not wishing to defend the water companies (who I think are a waste of time) but nothing was being done, or planned, before privatisiation.

Up to the early 70's the water regions were run by local authorities - and not very well run either. Then the ten regional water authorities were formed and run by central government, under an organisation run by the heads of those authorities and some outside 'experts'. They were supposed to be organising a national policy for integration and conservation. In the 16 years they were in charge they did sweet F A apart from regulate water quality.

Neither Labour nor the Conservatives did anything to try and integrate the whole lot into a national grid - although they should have had a kick up the butt from the drought of '76. After 16 years of doing very little Mrs T sold them in 1989 - and a fat lot of good that did!!!!!