Hosepipe Ban

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by JWK, Jun 29, 2018.

  1. HarryS

    HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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    Armandii are you in the United Utilities water area ? Just got an email from them yesterday urging everyone to cut down on water usage.
    The local pub has promised to stop watering the beer down as his part in this :snorky:
     
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    • shiney

      shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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      Using an individual's capability is not necessarily a good thing to base a conclusion on (although you do temper it with saying 'many of you' :dbgrtmb:). It's brilliant that you mother can use watering cans :blue thumb:.

      Unfortunately, I can't. :sad: Fortunately I have a dispensation (on medical grounds) from the water authority to be able to use a hosepipe, but within very strict limitations. :)
       
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      • KFF

        KFF Total Gardener

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        I wasn't meaning people like you anyway Shiney as I know you have a country estate :) . I'm meaning more the people who have small/medium town gardens who are just slap happy throwing water around from a hose pipe just watering leaves and not the plant and generally causing more harm than good.
         
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        • Phil A

          Phil A Guest

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          Thunderstorms coming to the South West tomorrow :hapydancsmil::hapydancsmil::hapydancsmil:

          After an all night debate on the drought situation, the government has issued the following advice to help alleviate the situation :paladin:

          :ideaIPB: :thud::thud::thud:
           
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          • ARMANDII

            ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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            Hi Harry, yes I am in their area, but I've had no e-mail. There appears to be a misconception that a hose pipe ban would be brought about by water shortages and, at the moment, that would not be the cause.:dunno: What's causing concern is that the demand for water has shot up, obviously due to the hot weather, has is/causing problems with maintaining water pressure.:doh: So, at the moment, surface and underground reservoirs are still full because of last Winter's high rainfall rate.........but things can change:wallbanging::snorky:
             
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            • Kandy

              Kandy Will be glad to see the sun again soon.....

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              I heard on the news yesterday I think it was that there is enough water in the resorvoirs for everyone in this hot weather but it is the fact that the water can’t be processed and cleaned up enough to make it safe when consumption goes up in times of drought:smile:

              We are under Anglian Water and as far as I know there is no mention of a hosepipe ban in our part of the country(East Midlands)

              We use watering cans on our allotment and our garden.It makes my shoulders ache as I carry two watering cans full of water up and down the plots.It isn’t too bad for Mr Kandy as he is stronger than me but we manage:snorky::old:
               
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                Last edited: Jul 17, 2018
              • Scrungee

                Scrungee Well known for it

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                  Last edited: Jul 17, 2018
                • HarryS

                  HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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                  I have also just read that United Utilities have a hosepipe ban planned for the 5th of August . It seems that all other regions have adequate water supplies at the moment.
                  I have read , in this post I think , that automatic irrigation systems are exempt from bans , is this correct ? I have just fitted one to a series of planters.
                   
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                  • shiney

                    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                    @HarryS Each authority can set their own rules but the usual situation during bans is that you can't use a hand held hose or a sprinkler. This includes watering systems unless they're seep hoses and these usually need to be on a timer. Some authorities say 'no unattended watering'. No pressure washers, no automatic lawn irrigation systems (they're usually sprinklers).

                    Stand pipes are not usually included so if you have a veg area with a stand pipe you can use that stand pipe to fill buckets and chuck them all over the place - but you can't let the tap run and fill irrigation ditches.

                    Some authorities will issue exemption dispensations to allow use of a hand held hose for watering vegetables, pot plants, hanging baskets and greenhouses (or plants under cover) if they receive a letter from a medical practitioner explaining that you're not physically able to fill and use watering cans or buckets. No other use of the hose is allowed.
                     
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                    • Verdun

                      Verdun Passionate gardener

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                      Some lateral thinking is called for I feel :)

                      Water will be increasngly scarce....because of availability, pricing, demand, rules and regulations......so mulching our soils is the real solution to water restrictions I think. This with more water butts. I try to mulch everything here....even top dressing the lawn is a form of mulching....and it does make a difference. I mulch when I plant something; I hoe to create a dust mulch as much as controlling weeds in veg patch :)
                       
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                      • Kandy

                        Kandy Will be glad to see the sun again soon.....

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                        The one good thing about this drought is the fact that it is keeping a lot of the weeds down on the allotment until we get some more of the wet stuff and then the weeds will shoot up everywhere and I bet it will be while we are on our hols then will come back and the allotment won’t look like it has been touched for six months and will be knee deep in weeds although a lot of the weeds I tend to pull up and chuck in my composting bags as long as they haven’t gone to seed.I pull the heads and stems off of the weeds and the root system goes in a bucket until the sun has killed them then they too go in my compost bags:snorky:

                        It is the tap rooted weeds that seem to do the best though as that long tap root goes further down until it finds moisture:biggrin:

                        We still haven’t got a hosepipe ban with Anglian Water as far as I know and the last time we came past our reservoir it was pretty full at the moment.

                        I am still chucking my washing up water on my plants but because it has been so hot (up into the 80’s) the water I am chucking on the plants just evaporates before it has a chance to get down into the roots.A lot of my cowslips and primroses have already dried to a crisp:sad:
                         
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                        • wiseowl

                          wiseowl FRIENDLY ADMIN Staff Member

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                          Here in the Garden of England with Southern Water:smile:



                          A spokesperson said "We are nowhere near our drought figures yet, our reservoir levels are absolutely fine."Our reservoirs are all over 90 per cent full .
                           
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                          • Gail_68

                            Gail_68 Guest

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                            Well my friends hosepipe ban or not...my flowers have been done regular...the bills just come and been paid..so banning will be ignored this end as I can do without anymore stress [​IMG]
                             
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                            • HarryS

                              HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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                              The water leakage rate for United Utilities area ( North West England ) is 430 million litres a day . Or 175 Olympic size swimming pools a day . The fat cat CEO's salary is £12 million over the last 5 years - obviously not performance related .
                               
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                              • Gail_68

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                                Harry I think you've stated the facts mate [​IMG] and they expect the public to hold back ;)
                                 
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