Hosepipe ban

The annoying part of that for me is that my water provider (Veolia Central) has said that they won't lift the ban as they are heavily reliant on groundwater supplies which are heavily depleted; this, despite the fact that I am so close to the Thames Water area that it is Thames that are responsible for taking our waste water away, and the fact that I am pretty much surrounded by a number of large reservoirs that feed the London water supply - we are so close, our water MUST be coming from these reservoirs (run by Thames Water)

So looks like I am going to lose out not because of any true geographical issue, but simply because of the company that supplies our water.

 

OK, its sad, I know, but I've just done a wee bit of research. My house is in the area inside the red circle on the map below - and shows just how close we are to the reservoir (in fact, if the 14m high side walls decide to fail on the north-east side of the reservoir, we are pretty much stuffed.

It is owned and ran by Thames Water, who have little pumping stations all over the area (as well as other reservoirs) and is filled from the Thames - so that, coupled with the fact that it is Thames that take our waste water away, to me proves that we are supplied from this reservoir - so people a matter of streets away will be able to use their hosepipes using water from the same source as my tap water, yet because my billing company is different, I will get prosecuted if I use my hosepipe!

Queen Mary Reservoir information