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Will You Stick To The Hosepipe Ban?

Another poll. Our question is:

Will you stick to the rules of the hosepipe ban?

Is a hosepipe ban simply a result of not enough rain and therefore something you’re prepared to go along with in the interest of preserving what water we have? Or do you believe water companies and the government could do more and you resent the idea of paying water rates for something you can no longer receive?

Please note that your input is 100% anonymous.

You may also wish to leave a comment below. Again, this is 100% anonymous and we never share your details with anyone. If you’re still concerned, use a false email address.

132 replies on “Will You Stick To The Hosepipe Ban?”

I will follow the law and if a ban is in place I will abide by it.

However, if reports are true that water companies are losing 20% of the water supply because of leaks and are not doing anything to rectify the situation because it will affect their profits and they are more interested in paying dividends to shareholders, then the management of those companies should be held to account.

Any utility company should be run in the best interests of it’s customers and not the shareholders.

BTW this thread was started in 2012.

I wont be sticking to it either.I am very frugal with water in the house and my job isnt one where i need to shower every single day.I dont run a dishwasher or do excessive amounts of clothes washing therefore I feel what I save in the house should be used in the garden for my plants and veg.

Perhaps they should have already started on this issue and not just touting the idea of a ban, in some previous years engineers have simply lowered the pressure in the network and managed water ‘at source’ this is a far more intelligent method of managing supplies and guaranteed to bring a result than asking folk not to water.

Phil Outram (one of the first posters at the top of the page) was making a good point until he started talking about people not joining the water business to become billionaires… It was in the paper this morning that a CEO of one water company gets a £3.27 million annual bonus, which isn’t based on or related to performance in any way, he just gets it, no questions asked – as do many CEO’s and other top management people in all kinds of services, water, electricity, gas.

We are expected to feel bad for watering our gardens and elderly people die in their homes during the winter because they are too scared to put the heating on in case of a large bill, but the people at the top are rolling in our money and claiming they can’t afford to fix leaks or put prices down. It’s a disgrace.

Dean, I must say your comment is very innocent and ill-informed. It is notoriously naive and not welcome. Please take it down!

Bill, they are watching you!! ha ha ha.I hate sit at home sad acts like you,parliament is not corrupt, i wish it was for a week so sad little people like you know what a corrupt one is like ! also, people die in hospitals because they go there when they are sick, if people stated to die in shopping centres then i will worrie.
And as a last note, go to a third world country for a while then come back and say that ok ?, i cant wait to see the appeal for england ” please send £2 a month, so little bill can go on his pc and moan about the hosepipe ban while drining clean water, in his warm house and going to work, please help little bill buy a sandwhich for £2″.
SAD LITTLE MAN

Guys what are you getting all worked up about, the banks don’t work, MP’s are corrupt therefore parliament must be corrupt, the water companies are screwing the great British public so is the EU, people are dying in our hospitals through the lack of care.
WAKE UP PEOPLE, we are a third world country get used to it.

Was just told I can get arrested because I filled in a small splashing pool for the kid to play in it. But at the same time was told I could have used a bucket to fill it in. But wait, the amount of water used is the same regardless what! Some kind of hose pipe ban?! the hose pipe ban is a joke considering the amount of rain the U.K has. I mean out of the 365 days it rains most of the time. Also If I pay Water bills I will give it whichever use I feel like it. What about a bit of common sense? Its not as if I’m going to waste water like a mad person am I?

They should like make a rule when there isn’t enough rain for example I don’t know if you use a reasonable amount of water you will have to pay I don’t know some kind of penalty or something. But the hose pipe ban is definitely a joke. I’m all about helping the planet hearth but I really don’t see how is that going to help at all. Are they going to investigate every single property and check if people are using a hose pipe 24/7???

Having a hosepipe ban is bloody ridiculous how is filling a swimming pool with buckets going to use any less water than if you fill it with a hose, if anything it will use more time you’ve finished slopping water everywhere trying to carry it to the swimming pool

I use my washing up water to water the plant pots therefore I think I should be able to use some water for the kids paddling pool.

Laying turf tomorrow, will use hose all day don’t give a toss, take me to court if you want. Tip of the day use hose at night to water plants when
no-one is looking

Hi Guys,

Any one has got some idea if JET Washer is allowed to wash the cars at home ?

As they use upto 60% less water than hose pipe….

Thanks…..

Wow, you so i should be a good person saving water because others are not so lucky,,, you say this as you sit on your pc using electric, in your house with your job !! you all make me laugh, all you have to do is go have a look at the reservoir, the one near me is flowing wll, so i use my own head not some money grabing pig and use what i think i need. Also 200 million tons of water a day your beloved water companies lose, money down the drain.

I read some getaround tips on another website. Although these were intended to be a joke, I think they are entirely reasonable. 1. You can wash the dog with a hosepipe, but not water your garden. Solution, turn the hose on the dog, and watch him run around the garden trying to avoid it. Simply follow him with the hose jet, and hey presto, your garden gets watered. 2. You can’t fill a pool with a hose, but you can fill a fish pond. Solution, buy a couple of goldfish and put them in your pool. Use can now use the hosepipe to fill it. 3. Only commercial car washes can use hoses to wash cars. Solution, pay your neighbour £1 to wash his car, and charge him a £1 for washing his. This is now a commercial venture, and exempt from the ban.

When will you all realise that this Country is all and only about money. Hosepipe ban is only a hidden way to raise water prices and force us spend money in having our cars washed rather than cleaning it ourselves. Petrol rush last month, I saw a petrol station raise the unleaded price from 139.90 to 142.90 overnight … oh and I heard on the news this morning that some roads are closed in Surrey because of .. FLOODING !!!!
ah ah ah

I WILL fill my Bestway 15ft above ground pool…!!! I have decided to spend £30 to plumb a 15mm flo-plast PEX ridged plastic pipe the length of my garden (100ft) then attach a tap that pours directly in the top of the pool…..NO Hosepipe at all…!!!!

definition : hosepipe – a flexible pipe for conveying a liquid or gas

what do you all think of that idea…?

feedback much appreciated.

I have just washed my car using a watering can rather than a pressure washer. I ended up using approx 65L of water, I am convinced I would of used ALOT less than that using said pressure washer. I know this wouldnt be the case for everyone but I feel the hose pipe ban is a joke going on the amount of rain we’re having

In an earlier hosepipe ban period I proved that it took 16 buckets to rinse a medium-sized family saloon and a compact hatch-back with one to wash them initially = 34 gallons. Using a hose with the same bucket for washing, a pre-rinse and a post-wash rinse playing for a maximum of eight minutes’ hose use – estimated hose output < 1 gallon per minute so max. usage 10 gallons. Result: lower water usage and reduced manual effort.

Why ban hand-held hoses?

And buy pump and water butt and wash your car and/or water your garden to your heart’s content. That’s ‘your’ water not your water company’s.

So, the water companies are withdrawing a service that we are paying for.

Let’s see if the same water companies withdraw dividends from their shareholders in order that they can divert funds to saving water through additional repairs of leaks.

I think that the water companies should put big buckets under any leakages. At the end of every month, they refil the reseviours or whatever and we can use our hoses!!! 😉
Win Win

I personally think that a limit (by means of horrendous charging once that limit has been exceeded) would make much more sense for those of us that are on water meters anyway.

I mean, if myself and my wife choose to have a quick shower rather than a bath, and generally don’t use that much water as there’s only the 2 of us, and we’re out all day every day at work anyway – I don’t see how using my “allowance” if I want to clean the car at the weekend using the pressure washer is using any more water than an average family of 4.

The uk is an island so we are surrounded by water, how can we be running out I it? Also if people want to pay extra money for a hose pipe then let them, you can not deny people the option to fill up their paddling pool or wash their car. I use the hose pipe I wash the car as it is easy, why should I not be aloud to that?

Also how are they going to catch people using hosepipes; if you get caught then you know not to trust your neighbours. The hosepipe ban is pethetic and ever since the ban has been made, we have had alot of rain!!!!!!

As someone else pointed out, yes, we are surrounded by water but to turn this water into ‘salt free’ is extremely expensive and the water companies would really have to increase their fees. If you want to chance your arm and continue using a hosepipe, it might not just be a non friendly neighbour that shops you but anyone driving past.
Washing the car – two buckets to wash it and maybe two or three to rinse it. Lot less than if you continued with your hosepipe.

I think leakage is managed ‘as far as reasonably possible’ considering the restrictions Ofwat impose. I could halve leakage overnight, easily and cheaply – simply halve the water pressure in the pipes. It’s not allowed though – not only does every house have to have clean water, it needs to have clean water with a pressure of 7 metres static head at the delivery point (that’s the water pressure at the bottom of a pool 7 metres deep). I don’t know offhand what the water pressure needs to be at the pumping station in order to deliver this pressure (I can check if you wish), but it’s considerable: http://www.burnleycitizen.co.uk/news/9037626.100ft_of_water_gushing_out_of_burst_Burnley_main/ Water under that much pressure is going to leak.

The other obstacle in the way of effective leakage reduction thanks to Ofwat is financial – water companies are liable to fines if leakage is above their ‘economic level’ – and also if leakage is too far below this level (because they would have carried out repairs when the cheaper option would have been to let the leak continue).

A stand-by grid system of some kind may emerge as a result of this drought, but your guess is probably as good as mine on this subject. I just do leakage.

I also agree with your last comment – you can’t meter what isn’t there. As I see things, throughout mankind’s history we’ve built settlements where there is plenty of water. These days we appear to be building them where there’s plenty of money instead – we’ll worry about water later. Am I the only one who thinks that’s daft?

A lot of interesting comments and assumptions. I think water companies could do a lot more to stop leaks by using mains metering as well as all houses to have meters.
A 3 bedroom house in an inner city or one in a more rural setting with a proper garden cannot be treated the same for the amount of water required for normal living. For those with a garden it is normal to water plants and turf.
In the late 1800s a large bore pipe was laid from Perth to Kalgoorlie (WA) a distance of about 370 miles. Interestingly this option is never mentioned in the UK. There is plenty of water but not in the places it is most needed.
The earth is a self contained environment and the water volume is virtually unchanged for 6 billion years so just move the water.
The cost to industry and population over the next century of localised water shortages will more than pay for it.

Bryce

Exactly the point I have been trying to make and which the water companies’ employees on this site have studiously ignored. Bravo to them for speaking on behalf of their employers, but the plain fact is that they have been milking the public for years. This might be OK when they are doing their job, i.e. supplying water, but completely wrong when they’re not, like now. We should have had an emergency “top up only” grid years ago, before the industry was privatised. The water companies were happy to buy a profitable business so long as it held together. Now that it isn’t, they must realise that it’s time to take the rough with the smooth. We need a grid – now – and they must pay for it. If you were impressed by the 370 mile pipeline in Oz, take a look at what was done in Libya.

I’ll try to answer, but I’m not a water company employee, I work for a leak management consultancy. For the record, I have no love for the water companies whatsoever – my posts here are prompted by the desire to correct the huge misconceptions about water leakage. I find the level of ignorance of this subject astounding – when I heard Anglian Water’s director of water services say We realise that any leakage is basically unacceptable” I put my head in my hands in disbelief. Leakage is a part of water distribution which cannot be eliminated. Trust me on this, it will not go away.

With the questions above, I’ll have a go – .

Mains metering. This is the only way we become aware of any leaks other than those which are on the surface and reported by the public. Radio transmitters are fitted to these meters, and the signals are monitored constantly by sophisticated computer software, and at least daily by people like me. Any sudden increase triggers alarms, and the ‘natural rate of rise’ of all areas is monitored until the leakage level reaches the point where it is more economical to repair it than to leave it (Ofwat forbid any intervention before this level is reached).

As for moving water around, Severn Trent are currently gearing up to supply Anglian Water: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17664051 Welsh water I believe are more reluctant to do so.

Joe, I don’t think that anybody is expecting a “leak free” environment. Any system with lots of joints is going to suffer (look at car air-con systems, for instance). However, I think it’s fair to expect leakage to be restricted as far as reasonably possible, e.g. as a percentage of water supplied.

My point here is that we should have a stand-by grid system to cover those areas which are occasionally drought prone, such as the south east. I read about the Severn Trent/Anglian plan in the Telegraph. I shows what can be done, but we shouldn’t require a crisis to prompt it. Water is a national asset, not a local one. As the population grows, with accompanying development, we will need the resource.

Metering, encouraging saving water, etc., will only go so far in restricting demand. In the final analysis, you can’t meter what isn’t there.

A few years ago householders paid extra for the use of a hose but for some reason the water companies stopped householders from needing to pay extra for the use of a hose. When I enquired if it was still ok to use a hose and I was told I could use as much water as I required without penalty. The water companies have had plenty of time to sort out the water supply problems but have failed in a bad way. Expect huge increases in metered water charges in the future due to the much lower profits caused by this ban and many people who have switched to metered supply will be unable to switch back to unmetered supply. The water companies are looking for big profits for their shareholders and lower use is not in their interests unless lower use can still give big profits. So beware if you are thinking of switching to a meter as it will prove very costly in the future.

Are you on a meter? £800 is excessive. Unless you have a very large family or live in a very expensive area I find the fact that you’re paying £800 very odd. Besides that…

You don’t pay extra money to use a hosepipe. In fact, your bills do not cover such use. I suggest you find alternative methods to water your plants or wash your patio/car where previously you would have used a hosepipe. There is a ban, and if you are caught, you will get fined. It’s not about the bills, it’s about being a decent human being and thinking of your fellow members of community who will be without water if you continue to lazily use your hosepipe and waste resources in one of the hottest unpredictable summers for 101 years.

Alternatively, I suggest you ring your water company, forward them your intricate and well written plan to fix each and every water leak within 24 hours as well as somehow gain technology to accurately predict the unpredictable and put yourself forward for a prestigious scientific award.

The thing to remember in all this discussion is that the objective is to avoid wasting water, and/but the use of a hose pipe does not necessarily waste more water than use of a bucket or watering can. Often, it’s the opposite. That’s part of what grates for a lot of us.

I propose: (1) The water companies should be forced by law to use some of their capital to fix the known leaks in their pipes. (2) Everyone should be obliged to have a meter, and water rates should increase exponentially: If you use an amount considered normal for the average family (and that amount should be set as low as reasonably possible, not including watering gardens and washing cars and filling pools), you should pay one rate. As users (whether homes or businesses) increase the amount used over that base amount they should pay higher and higher rates, in stages, for the water they consume.

This combined approach would go much farther toward reducing water use than requiring middle-aged gardeners to lug water to their parsnips, mums to tell their toddlers they can’t play in the paddling pool, and arthritic old ladies to watch their flowers die. Even though those of us with big gardens would suffer financially, this approach is reasonbly democratic, non-prescriptive, and far more effective than the current one.

Not to speak of legally applicable. I really don’t see how water companies can be legally permitted to control the _way_ we use a commodity we’ve paid for.

Amount, yes (if we don’t pay our bills, we’re legally liable). Manner, no.

Joanna,

Water companies do fix the known leaks in their pipes, I guarantee it – the problem is that new leaks occur all the time (it’s called the ‘natural rate of rise’ or NRR). The challenge is to keep control of the NRR and maintain an equilibrium. Eliminating leakage is neither realistic or permitted by Ofwat – Ofwat demands companies maintain an ‘economic level of leakage’ (ELL), which is what the water companies aim to achieve. Any repairs which cost more than the value of the water lost are forbidden. You can read all about it here (but I warn you it’s a dull read): http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/publications/commissioned/rpt_com_tripartitestudybstpractprinc.pdf

As for water meters, I agree 100%. One of the difficulties in managing leakage is trying to understand where the water is actually going, and until all properties are metered we’re just guessing. I strongly suspect that at least two water companies are overestimating their leakage in their reports to Ofwat (I know because I’ve worked for them). Also, people on water meters don’t usually waste water, so there would probably be no need for restrictions anyway.

Joanna is so right – after a basic minimum low cost supply have increasing scale of charges. Amazingly people would find ways to reduce their water usage, and can choose whether to run a washing machine 5 times a week and dishwasher twice a day or water their garden.

I currently pay in excess of £800 per annum for my private water supply.

My water supply company’s inability to supply their area with sufficient water this summer due to their lack of investment since the drought of the mid seventies and also their failure to repair existing leaks is not my problem and I will not be penalised for it. It is customary for any other company operating in any other field to make financial concessions when they are unable to meet their customers’ requirements and until such time as my water company offer me a reduction in my water rates I shall continue to use my hosepipe.

I would rather not use a hose and not have to fill up water from a stand pipe! prevention being better than the cure !

“Oh, and Tom “ with regard to your rant above, yes it IS the water companies’ responsibility to take on this task. You have customers who pay money and deserve service. If they can’t do it, then they give the system back to the country and let us get on with it.”

it’s not. As someone fresh out of the schooling system I can tell you that NO effort is made at any point to teach generations how to conserve water. We’re taught where it comes from. We’re not taught how to conserve it. Don’t leave taps running, have showers rather than baths where possible, wash your cars using a bucket and sponge, and clean your patio and driveway using a broom rather than wasting half of the average usage on it with a hosepipe.

Privatized companies do the best with water. Remember not long ago what happened in Ireland? Maybe this will jog your memory:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12088075

“About 40,000 people across Northern Ireland are struggling to cope without water supplies. Northern Ireland Water has warned that the disruption could continue for several more days. Ministers and officials are meeting to take stock of widespread disruption caused by burst pipes.”

Lastly, I can’t speak for ALL the water companies, but I can tell you that the company I work for repairs leaks as soon as they can whilst abiding by the laws and wishes of the councils and local residents. It’s not easy to find the source of water, it’s not easy to dig down and get it repaired quickly and easily whilst you’re trying to keep to budget and adhere to the councils timescales of road closures etc. At the end of the day we’re operating a service to supply water, and we do. If you didn’t pay your water charges and there was no company, there wouldn’t be anyone to repair the leaks and bursts in the first place. A single day without a water company would leave thousands in chaos.

You can complain all you like about how people didn’t plan or prepare for the situation, but they did. It’s been severly dry. You can complain how you pay for your water to use how you like- you don’t. Water companies supply it cooking, cleaning and cunsumption within the property, not to sprinkle all over your gardens through huge pumped systems.

I’m actually glad I’ve been speaking to people who are mostly sensible and who actually care about conservation rather than going on non-sensical rants about how companies are taking money but doing sod all. If you’ve got the evidence behind you, then I’d love to see it. The problem is that nowadays everyone thinsk something is owed to them. There are no comparisons between water or gas. Gas is a huge monopoly owned by companies with larger quantities of money.

What is the point of hosepipe ban if it can’t be enforced. Is Veolia going to have a fleet of helicopters searching out offenders? I think not. Sadly it isn’t enough to depend on people behaving responsibly in our ‘me me’ society

I don’t think that denying my son use of his paddling pool all summer is reasonable. It is very small (less water than a bath) so I will continue to use it.

Dawn. You are not denying your son the use of his ‘very small paddling pool’. Fill it up with a bucket from the tap. You ain’t banned from using buckets of water nor a paddling pool.

hello, I think it is a silly rule to ban hosepipes but still allow filling paddling pools/wash cars etc using hand held water containers ie buckets; when this will use far more water, or the same, than using a hosepipe to wash the car/fill a paddle pool will. The paddling pool is the same size and will hold the same volume of water however you choose to fill it!

It is surely common sense, like perhaps taking a shower instead of a bath, using less water??
And I think the water companies are not repairing holes or being proactive regarding reservoir building to cope with expanding population. And we are paying for it.

Lacj of rainfall is not the big issue. What is the issue is the hundreds and thousands of new homes being built in ever increasing developments on any available green sites. So you build all these new homes and they all need a water supply yet no provisions are made for this. When was a new reservoir ever built in this country? Before banning hosepipes they should tackle the source of the problem. Regards washing cars, I’ve measured how much water I use using a watering can and bucket compared to my jet wash. The jet wash uses absolutely nothing compared to buckets. The road was running with water using buckets. Jet wash , the road was hardly wet. You should be able to wash cars as long as its done with a jet wash. Simple.

Many of you seem to think that a sprinkler system is ok – it is NOT! Only drip systems are acceptable.

1) With all respect: announcing the state of drought in a country surrounded by water – only in UK :).

2) I recently went for a walk through Greenwich(Blackheath, Kidbrooke, Charlton). The funny thing is that on my, approximately 10km way I have noticed more than two dozens of this small, leaking water boxes inside the pavement. And these were only three boroughs of SE London. Also, please bear in mind that the pressure of the water needs to be substantial as it’s actually leaking upwards.

It will be great summer for car wash garages though :).

Yh the UK is surrounded by water but it’s all salt water you idiot, unless you want to pay 10% more tax on your income to desalinise it then go ahead, make sure you read up before you comment.

The ban applies to * Water treated to drinkable standards.
So it’s ok to fill a ‘water butt’ using a ‘tap’ then leave it a day so it’s not drinkable then pump it out through a hosepipe….simple lol 🙂

Sensible measures frankly. No water, no life. Use it wisely, there is no guarantee it will be in abundance in the future. Plus no further house / office / warehouse / factory building in the region until a sustainable water supply is established.

Sussed it.
Forget the hose and use a watering can to wash/rinse your private car. Let’s see the water companies fight that in court….
Letter of the law and they made the rules, no using a ‘HOSEPIPE’ to wash a private car.

The companies which have imposed hosepipe bans include two firms, Anglian and Southern, which failed to meet their targets for reducing water leakage “ and still paid large bonuses to their top executives. Anglian Water paid out more than £1.1 million to its top executives in bonuses last year while Southern Water paid out more than £400,000.

Profit taking rather than investment by the privatised water companies has accounted for most of the increased water costs, as a country we are not short of water yet a water grid is deemed too expensive to construct, yet oil and gas companies seem to have no such arguments when discussing pipeline construction. There should be no profit in the supply of a product as important as air for the maintenance of life. Public Utilities should be publicly owned, only then will supply priorities take precedence over shareholder profit and fat cat management remuneration

In response to Joe’s comments. Firstly, when referring to tankers I obviously did not mean road tankers but ships, which are very good at transporting bulk liquids like oil and LPG. Water is heavier but not by a lot.

Secondly, I mentioned the GMMR, at one time (about 20 years ago) the largest civil engineering project in the world. It moves water across huge distances – very much greater than would be required in the UK – in a country with very little natural water infrastructure. It’s in operation and works.

In the UK we are riddled with rivers and canals. It would not be particularly expensive to install a back-up system so that realatively small amounts of water could be moved from north to south only when needed. It was looked at after the 1976 drought but – guess what – it rained again!

The water companies will fight off doing it. Despite the billions that they have made in profit, they are tardy with fixing leaks and certainly won’t rush to put in any kind of grid. Let’s face it, we’ll need one sooner or later just to cope with population expansion and greater development.

Oh, and Tom – with regard to your rant above, yes it IS the water companies’ responsibility to take on this task. You have customers who pay money and deserve service. If they can’t do it, then they give the system back to the country and let us get on with it.

Customers who have a meter fitted but pay the unmetered fee should be allowed to switch to the metered supply rate whilst this hosepipe ban is in place and when the ban is over be allowed to switch back to their original unmetered rate. The current rules insist on having to stay on the metered fee once a customer switches to metered rate if they have been on a meter before.

stop the waste via leakage and i may consider it i pay for what i use and at the end of the hose i have equiv of a water can spout attachment whats the dif .i guess its night watering again .however having driven through pouring rain this eveningi do think it wont be required.I will just flush all my 5 toilets instead and leave all my on suite showers on .honestly how crazy is this country and the mugs that believe this will make any sort of diference .

It’s really quite simple. Water companies project rainfall and water usage within a certain timeframe, and this past year has gone below even the lowest expectations, therefore we have a hosepipe ban. Just a hose. Nothing more.

Some of the comments on this page are disgusting, selfish and totally hypocritical. You complain water companies aren’t fixing enough leaks in time, but how do you know? You saw a leak running or a few weeks down a road? Did you report it? Did you realise that water companies have to adhere to timescales set by the council to firstly get an answer back from them to say they can dig on their land, as well as then find the leak and get it sorted? It’s not as simple as fidning water and fixing underneath it. Leaks show up in obvious places, the source of which does not and lies underground. With new plastic piping, leaks are even more difficult to check for, so it’s a double edged sword.

Half of you are moaning that people don’t have thier own resources to cope with droughts, but that’s not the water companies faults. They send leaflets through the doors- you throw them away. They post and advertise water saving equipment on their websites- you don’t visit them. They enforced meters on people in the past- you all complained. Current water usage is ingrained in society- it’s taken for granted greatly. Water companies don’t even send you water to use externally. They send you it to sue for cooking, cleaning and for consumption, not for watering plants or washing your cars with wasteful hoses. Here’s an idea, use a bucket and sponge, or use a watering can. If you have health problems which prohibit carrying, speak to your water company. I’m sure there are concessions they can make to be fair to you. YOU DO NOT PAY YOUR WATER BILLS FOR LUXURY. THEREFORE YOU ARE NOT LOSING MONEY.

I’m amazed by the amount of people who put forward obvious examples of how water companies should be run. Obviously if we could build a pipe from north to south without impacting customers bills and causing major issues we would have done that decades ago. Obviously desalination plants would also have been built, but again, they cost millions, they cost a lot to run, are large, and then there would have to be a huge network of pipes to distribute this water. Do you want to pay through the bum for that? Do you even want to wait for that to happen? It would take decades.

“Britain is one of the wettest countires in the world”. Yes, and the south east area, for example, has had 2 consecutive autumn and winter periods of below average rainfall. It has only been as dry as it is now 4 times in the last 100 years. Considering this particular area is also one of the most densly populated places in Britain, you can see why this is a problem. We can conserve water, we can fix leaks faster, but we can’t make it rain more.

Those of you not adhering to the hosepipe ban: I hope you get caught and fined. You’re not partof the solution, your’e part of the problem. people are always quick to solely blame the corporations, but don’t place any balem on themselves, as a whole, or as a society.

It is not the water companies responsibility to change the infastructure and minds of the UK. Write to your local government official. Make yourselves heard. You’re obvously here to complain about the ban, so it at least means something to you.

I have no water butts connected to my gutter downpipe so all the rainfall onto my roof goes into the system along with water that drains from my patio so that it can be shared amongst all customers. Many greedy people conserve their water with butts for their own use. Its time that the water companies credited customers along the lines of the electric suppliers who receive feedback credit with their solar panels.

What about the customers who use waterbutts because they have a soakaway? Should they be punished because they have no option? Or should they get a refund because they use waterbutts and not the mains water to maintain their gardens?

Customers on non metered water supply should be given a discount that equates to what the average metered supplied customer pays as they can no longer use the hose for which they have paid extra for.

In poor country’s they have no taps, no clean drinking water and a very poor lifestyle we are lucky to have these services available to us, A hosepipe ban is for a precaution would you rather it be too late when no water is available and we end up suffering with young babies and children yes I am upset my children look forward to having a paddling pool up in what summer we have but i can make other arrangements like taking the children to a park with a lake to paddle in but i couldn’t make any other arrangements if suddenly there was no clean running water coming from my taps how would we boil food, wash clothes.shower/bath and even make a baby a bottle of safe drinking juice etc but I do agree with businesses they need to use water to keep there staff to feed there family’s I think there could be a better approach to this rather than banning hose pipes asking for people to only use what water that is needed is a much better approach and if it then got bad use a hosepipe ban once again we are lucky to have safe clean drinking water in our homes and yes sometimes people do take it for granted but a hosepipe ban or only using what water is needed I no which one everyone would prefer and I’m sure we would all reduce our water consumption but also I think water companies could do a bit more to help improve this situation not waiting for it to rain.

what a load of crock … who makes these decisions?

a bona fide landscape gardener now goes bancrupt, has to lay off all his staff, because all his jobs have been cancelled …

who in their right mind will landscape their garden when they know that the plants will die because they cannot water them?

small plug plants from the garden centre costs £3-£6 each …. and some larger plants cost well over £30 each

yet, the window cleaner can continue to operate (the window panes don’t die if they are dirty) ….

the car wash companies continue to spray thousands of gallons of water ….. yet a car does not die if it is dirty

but the water companies ignore the plight of the garden centres (who will loose millions), and the landscapers/gardeners who are struggling to make ends meet

sick!

I really dont get it.
Britain is one of the wettest countires in the world, and yet we are supposed to believe that we are in a drought? Come on, lets be truthful here, its just bad planning and negligence again from these service administrators. There are MANY examples of MUCH drier countries in the world who manage their water supplies far more efficiently and have no need for any “hosepipe” bans. (I can think of many cities in American DESERTS without these restrictions)
Its that same farce as when planes in the UK are diverted from Hethrow beacuse of 2 inches of snow, to land in Scandinavia where they have 2 meters of the stuff on the ground.
Blatant incompetence again……

The general public are to be resricted in the use of water and fined if caught using a hosepipe to water gardens etc.This we are told is due to the severe shortage of stored water.

How can the water authorities justify the use of allowing water to be used for watering golf courses and extensive wastage of water to water horse racing courses.

If there is such a shortage then we should all be resricted.

Won`t mention the recent pictures of water board vehicles along side gushing hydrants in the dead of night.

I will reluctantly observe your restrictions, but I will expext your Company to reduce my usage costs accordingly.
As a result of your reduced output, you will of course also be reducing your operating costs, i.e, pumping and chemicals etc.and this reduction should be passed on to your consumers.
However, knowing how profit orientated your company is, I don’t expect any concessions from you.
Sincerely,
Davy.

I will of course observe the ban, but the government & water companies should be doing more to stop the loss of water.

Amazing to think there are so many selfish people out there. Of course I will observe the hosepipe ban – this is about more than water this year; it’s about the planet and the other human and animal life that exists outside our own little little environments.

What I dont get it is we can leave our taps on all day if we wanted to (which I dont) But what difference does this make compared to running the water outside via a hose ? Unless there’s something I’m missing here. In theory if we’re not allowed to use hose pipes then we shouldn’t be able to run baths either, we should be told to only shower as this uses less water. Are they gonna stop rich people using their jacuzzis too? The whole thing is ridiculous, I use about £3 of water a week because I live in a 1 bedroom flat and am never here during the day.

aCTUALLY I ALWAYS TURN OFF THE TAPS WHEN BRUSHING MY TEETH, but now i will take baths, leave the tap on because i cant wash my car nor water my garden..

There you go see: its not always regulations and laws… sometimes common sense and asking people to change attitude: or pay the water as much as they use it and not flat rates will solve this predicament

If water were oil or gas it would be tankered and piped around the country virtually at the drop of a hat. Funny that customers for a far more important and basic commodity are treated in such a cavalier manner.

I have no sympathy with the water companies. They knew the score when they bought this resource at a knock-down price. However, they chose to cross their fingers and hoped it wouldn’t happen again.

Water companies – go and read about the Great Man Made River project and then get started!

One possible outcome of the current situation is that the water industry may look seriously (voluntarily or not) at ways of transporting water to drought prone areas. Alex Salmond thinks he can make money by exporting water to England, and a couple of water companies are in favour of selling water to the thirsty Southeast. It will be a huge task though, and may not be feasible.

Tankers are no good. They’re okay for some liquids, and water companies do use them for emergencies – but we’re talking piddling little amounts compared to what would be required to keep drought areas supplied. Not only would the fuel costs be colossal, but there wouldn’t be much room left on the roads for other vehicles.

Pipelines wouldn’t be much better. Water is heavy, so pumping it great distances would be Hellishly expensive. If it were to be underground pipes then the cost of laying a new network would pile on further cost – and any overland pipe would have ‘NIMBY’s challenging every proposed location in the courts. And the pipes would leak. Water always leaks.

I quite like the idea of open water courses or canals (because I’m a birdwatcher and occasional fisherman), but realistically I doubt they’d work very efficiently either.

The government should have never privatised our utilities in the first place, you sell something to an individual and it stands to reason they want to make money, not spend it. They should be made to forfeit that’s the only way these fat cats will do something about all the leaks if it hurts their pockets.

It’s worth bearing in mind that during the big freeze over Christmas and New Year 2010/11 the only water company which actually ran out of water due to leakage was state owned.

When I see a mains leak in Blackheath on Lawn Terrace that takes a better part of a month if not longer to fix…I see another leak near the Crown that’s been at least two weeks and still going…

And not small leaks either. Only in the UK…

The fact that you can easily get around these…

Not watering a garden? I don’t think so.

ART76(6) A water undertaker which issues a prohibition must make arrangements for a reasonable reduction of charges which are made in respect of prohibited uses (including arrangements for repayment or credit where charges are paid in advance).

Does it mean we should get reduction of charges from the water companies?

Prescott wanted more building in the SE – nobody gave a thought to the provision of water (or so it seems)

The service I pay for includes water as and when I want it. If you can’t provide the service, reduce what you charge me.

I will try to stick to the ban but I have worked very hard developing and allottment and if my vegetables look as though they are struggling then i will have no alternative but to use the hosepipe. The amount of rain that this country experiences should be more than enough…we are surrounded by water for gods sake!!!! Also the amount of money I pay in rates for my water each is scandalous and the authorities want to stop me from using the hose!!!!!get real!!,. I think these PRIVATISED water companies are interested in only one thing and that is the share holders and their dividends!!

You pretty much sum up my views and probably the rest of us too. I am SICK to the back teeth of the water companies hiking up prices and then restricting the use of water. Angian Water has the cheek to demand an increase of 6% and then slap a ban on hosepipe use! Let’s work it out….I will now pay 6% more and use probably 20% to 30% less water this year than last year. That relates to a nice real increase of around 25% profit off one customer. Nice going Anglian Water!
Here is an idea….perhaps they could use these increased profits to work with all the other water companies and start sharing water across the entire network! How can you have floods up North and drought in the East and SE on a small island like ours? It is called a shortage of water, not a drought. The solution lies in a better water management policy. Joined up thinking….the list goes on. Desalination plants have been scoffed at as being too expensive. Really? Who by? Us the users or the Masters, the shareholders?
I for one shall not be paying the increase!

I’ve just read the article properly for the first time, and from the timing of the flushing operations around Bexhill I’d guess that what the Sun reporters witnessed was a Step Test. These are carried out between around midnight and 5:00 am to minimise disruption to customers.

Step tests are used when there is believed to be a significant underground leak in the area, but it’s proving difficult to locate. A ‘Discrete Metered Area’ is divided into sub areas, which are then closed one at a time while a technician monitors the flow with the intention of ‘homing in’ on the leak. If the area has iron pipes then these operations can cause discolouration – and water companies can be fined heavily for discolouration incidents. The technicians have to flush the mains until the water tests are clear.

A burst probably triggered alarms over the last week, and routine detection methods failed to find it. Consequently, a night team was deployed to the area. The volumes the Sun is ranting about are insignificant compared to the amount of water which would have been lost had the test not taken place. It’s not unusual for a large underground burst to lose 10,000 litres an hour, every hour.

Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.

I’ve had a talk with a couple of ‘friends in the trade’, and it appears that these operations were indeed part of a planned program of mains flushing, and not a Step Test.

Flushing is required periodically to maintain water quality, but I would have thought it would have been prudent to put the program on hold until the drought eased (from a PR perspective if nothing else). Perhaps there were water quality issues that couldn’t wait, or perhaps it was just bad judgement.

So you telling me that this water that is being pumping through is going draining off somewhere different to the water we would be using through our hose pipes?

There are many leaks around the countery and the water company do NOTHING!!!

Fix the leaks!! Then I’ll stick to the ban.

Bear in mind that water under pressure is flowing through these mains – mains which are subjected to flexing & movement caused by ground saturation/drying, temperature, traffic, expansion/contraction, etc. etc. etc. Water will find a way out somehow through the millions of joints and connections in the network. Most leaks are little more than dribbles, but there are an awful lot of them.

Assume that to fix a leak costs around £2,000 (that’s including traffic lights, excavation, repair to the pipe, resurfacing, etc.) This cost is pretty much the same irrespective of the size of the leak (major bursts excepted – they usually leave a crater).

How big a leak, in litres an hour, do you think warrants that £2,000? One litre? Ten? A thousand? More?

The reality is that even if it was possible to eliminate leakage completely the cost would be so high that nobody would be able to afford the water – as the level of leakage drops repair costs rise exponentially. In fact the water companies are not allowed to repair all leaks – Ofwat only allows water companies to undertake repairs if the cost of doing so is less than the cost of not doing so. Check the Ofwat website.

Before a fight starts let me stress that I am not a water company employee, and cannot comment on water company policies. I am a technician working for a firm of leakage & water management consultants who provide services to these companies.

I dont mind sticking to water pipe banned…no rain no water or very low..as our rivers show..however i see sports like the olymics..tennis and whatever else suits goverment to made to looking good on tv … will get away with lovely green grass and so on…which i think is total waste of our water that we do have at moment…if there is a water pipe ban then be it for all not just for some like us normal every day needing folks! Ppl do need to start saving water every where they can..and so do so called sports that being wasted on!

Some of the above comments must be made by people who are very thick.

1. We are an island surrounded by SALT water. De-salinating salt water causes environmental concerns and still doesn’t necessarily make water OK for crop use or drinking.
2. They can fix all the pipes but that will not make more rain fall.
3. Australia have hosepipe bans and water restrictions every year so it is daft to say that other dryer countries don’t implement the same advice.
4. Most carwashes also circulate their water so is less wasteful.
5. There isn’t a hosepipe ban in every area every year. There’s not been one in my area in the 6 years I’ve lived here.
6. Paying your taxes does not increase rain fall.

Overpopulation on the whole planet means that the world’s water dries up in 50 years anyway. I hope the idiots who ignore water rationing now suffer the most then.

Natalie…I do believe you need to do more research on desalination. It is perfectly safe to drink. No Saudi has ever died from it. Australia uses desalination. No problems there. The cost of the technology has been falling rapidly. Please educate yourself before wading in.

You call people idiots and say the water dries up in 50 years! Wow, very scientific given that 70% of the earth’s surface is water. Always has been and always will be.

There is a shortage of rain. The natural cycles have been disturbed. Water is still abundant. Man is just not managing it correctly….as always!!!

Water Companies should be seen to be making a serious effort to stop leakage, and reducing dividends and bonuses till they do.

I’ll observe the ban to the letter but resent every minute of it. I think any water company introducing a hosepipe ban should forfeit all profits by being forced to reinvest it.

The simple problem = incompetent water company trying to pay shareholders instead of giving a decent service to their customers.

The simple solution = forfeit profit and dividend payments by forced reinvestment within the company to improve quality of service for the customers who cannot choose another provider.

The only reason I would use a hosepipe during the ban would be to clean the filter box of my pond as not only does it present a health and safety risk, I would like to preserve the life of the 40+ fish that are contained within it and it would be impossible to clean with a watering can!!

That is the only reason, if my neighbours choose to ‘shop me’, I will take the consequences.

I will stick to it but grudgingly and only because I know for a fact that our next door neighbour would shop me if I did not. I feel bitterly resentful about this ban, because whilst I am not allowed to run my little hose over my 60 feet of little garden, my rich neighbours half a mile away who have sprinkler systems on timers to water their acre and a half, will be able to continue. Ludicrous.

Possible Loop Hole..
If you have a large container like a ‘water butt’ and use a mains pump for the hose,
I’m quite sure you can’t be prosecuted as your not using a mains water feed..

Mine’s a definite no vote. Why should I observe the ban?

I pay just over £500 in water rates this year which has been rising steeply over the years. The water company and their shareholders are presumably doing very well out of this.

I also pay Sky TV a similar amount and their product is ˜delivered’ to me every day and has been for years. If Sky’s service suddenly became poor I would stop paying them and/or ask for a refund. Sadly we can’t do this with water companies can we?

same here….and the water companies and the government could do more too…water companies are only in for the money they can make out of us they are not in for charity…..most of the water companies are owned by foreign companies and that are not charitable…and then if it all go`s wrong they get the government on there side by make new laws up!!!!……and we have to pay!!!!!!!

I believe it is illegal for them to turn off your water supply. It is a basic human right. They may take you to court.
My advice is pay last years rate and refuse to pay an increase. Demand to go to court and put your side across. Why not petition your neighbours and get the community to revolt? We have strenght in numbers.

The ban doesnt affect hand car washes so if I have my car washed by them I will still be using the same amount of water as if I washed it myself at home plus I will have to pay for fuel and their fee. Not only will I be causing damage to the enviroment by having to drive to the car washes I will be boosting their income. The ban must be for all and be fair across the board and if not the water companies should compensate customers accordingly.

Steve has got it right of course. I will be sticking to the ban myself however my gripe is that to wash a car by bucket will use about 30% more water than using a power jet washer which maximises the water efficiency .
Therefore one wonders about the ideas of those who decide the rules for this water saving. I save as much water as possible but washing a car which needs to be done is not efficiently done by using a bucket. [read about three or four buckets of water]

Pressure washers are exempt from the hosepipe ban. Providing your hose is supplying your pressure washer, you’re okay. This is because pressure washers are ‘frugal’ with the volumes of water they use.

6 months back from 2 weeks in gran canaria where they only have 9 days of rain a year and water there there plants and lawns constantly, i find it unbelievable that an island surrounded by water can actually run out, its about time these water companies that make excessive profits get there act together and sort thereselves out

I will keep the hosepipe ban, but isn’t this just punishing the people who want to grow their own vegetables? And does my wildlife pond full of rare newts have to dry up – the birds and hedgehogs will no longer be able to drink there. What about closing swimming pools, or closing car washes – don’t they use loads of water? Why can’t we all have our water turned off for 3-4 hours a day making us use less in every way? This will make it fair, nobody will be ‘in trouble for breaking the law’. It will stop having to turn against neighbours- who wants to do that?

Because, if we turned it off it would affect everyone, and that can’t be allowed – viz. the fact that if you have a sprinkler on a timer, you are exempt and can water to your heart’s content. So, mrs average in her North Cheam patch can’t use a small hose, but mrs multi-millionaire in South Cheam with her effort-free, hands-free sprinkler system, can have her acres watered all the time.

You could buy your own sprinkler system from a garden centre. They are not expensive and easy to install. Seems like a good time to do it. At least you then actually get to use the water you are paying for.

I am fed up with water companies not doing enough to solve the problem themselves. We have been told for many years that there will not be enough water in years to come unless it rains.
Perhaps they could tell me why more new houses are being built – they will require even more water and we are an island with water all around us use your profits to install the equipment to utilise this water.
Come on Southern Water you get the water free now do something to solve the problem

So many valid points above regarding pricing and the poor management of the water companies. Although I will try and reduce the amount of water i use, it is impractical not to use a hosepipe. I dont want to break the law, but then, I dont want to waste my time which is just as valuable as water. My plants will get watered, using less water, but with the hose as i will be more likely to use more if I fill water cans. I will however stop washing my BMW and I will also take less baths and showers. I will flush the loo less too and any washing up water will be used on the flower beds. I will even stop drinking tap water and instead buy bottled water instead.

In summery, I will use less water, but still use hosepipe sparingly. I am on a meter so compare this years useage to last years Thames Water before you try and fine me!

We are an island surrounded by water. We are also connected by land to the north UK and Scotland that have plentyful supply. We have a national network of rivers that can chanel excess water from north to south and we can also take water from the sea. Investment should be made in developing more desalination sites.

We are in a natural climate change, so no point in implementing ‘Quick Fix’ hosepipe bans. It is time to look to the future and use the technology we have to ensure water is a comodity that is available equally to everyone and not prejudice against those who live in the south or low rainfall areas.

No of course I won’t be respecting the hosepipe ban. I have some self-righteous reasons why, based on the fact that I have to pay for fresh drinking water, and the companies who maintain the aging system aren’t doing a 100% perfect job. (I learned this logic when I was 8 and it’s served me well all my life.)

It doesn’t matter to me if some people who need water might not get it later in the year because frankly my rosebeds are a better use of fresh clean water than someone else’s grandma or kids. Screw those people. I pay my taxes! What do those kids pay? They don’t even have jobs. I mean, please.

I have a small leisure craft which i go fishing at sea with and not being able to hose down to protect it from salt damage (safety of the vessel) or wash the the catch of the day leaving rotting bits of fish on the deck (health issue) doesn’t comply with heath and safety reasons.

But the rain and snow and the fact that we are an island surrounded by water demonstrates that with the annual hosepipe bans finding a solution is not on the agenda, the gallons lost through the leaking poorly maintained system, don’t matter just as long has the P&L shows millions of profits.

If the water companies are not part of the solution then they are the problem!!!!

The real question that should be asked is: how can they justify it every year and never seem to have a solution other than telling their customers use a hosepipe and we put you in prison?

Answer is obvious, everyone has to pay it, customers don’t matter as long as they have their millions of profit and a customer that can do nothing but just keep paying is ripe for milking the money and failing them is good for the water business.

They are private firms that can be reactive to the burst pipes but do little real reinvestment and pretend that everything is getting better but the fact is: its all for show nothing is better every year hosepipe ban because not enough rain, instead of sorry for loosing X% of the water due to leaks and burst pipes. Locking up instead of looking after customers that have no choice is just wrong and it further reinforces that money is their only priority.

a) to cite the example of hosing down a leisure craft demonstrated just how much we take water for granted as a resource, and when it comes to ensuring there is enough clean potable water to drink / using it to clean you boat is is frankly absurd that you would submit this on the level health and safety wise as drinking clean water and washing. If its that much of a problem, get a water butt for your mooring and recycle water!

b) we don’t have annual hosepipe bans, we just don’t in fact the last time a hosepipe ban of this kind was called was in 2012

why is it they always criminalise the customer using what they are paying for when its the failure of the water company to improve services, infrastructure and develop and alternative supply that’s is the real crime when considering the multi million profits?

Of course I’m going to keep to the ban it’s the law and it’s not worth the fine. However I still think it’s disgusting that I should miss out due to the water companies inability to manage their produce. As a car enthusiast all I want to do is wash my car! Sounds sad I know but it’s ridiculous that we are not allowed to use a hose for this purpose as I’m only going to use the same amount of water from the tap with a bucket it will just take about 15 minutes longer.

I shall certainly comply with the hosepipe ban as it would be breaking the law not to, but I do feel that in view of the amount of money we have to pay for water and the inability of the water companies to prevent loss through their own leakage problems all households should pay a reduced amount to compensate for the loss of water available for their use.

No, I won’t. I pay for my water by meter, so the more I use the more I pay. Most of the population does not have a water meter, so I am subsidising their over-use.

Water companies are also not doing enough to deal with water leakages, so in effect I am having to go without in order to sustain an inefficient system.

Lastly, I resent the fact that wealthy multi-billion pound companies involved in sport are not affected by water restrictions. Why aren’t they? I have a small garden and it is better for me to use my hose for a few minutes to water my plants than endless trips to the tap to use the same amount of water. I don’t water what little lawn I have.

I just want to grow my own fruit and veg because utility companies are hiking their charges, making the cost of living more expensive. Stop raising prices and start investing in the infrastructure and I may change my mind.

Actually, that’s untrue. I work for a water company, and it’s swings and roundabouts here.

Firstly, as a water company, we don’t and have never provided water for you or anybody to consume outside of general use (washing, cooking, drinking). Watering your plants is a luxury that we have always allowed. People with unmetered chargses are going to be covering the costs somehow. If they use less water and pay more, or whether they use more water and pay less. The only way we are going to know is if they have a water meter fitted, and we have been actively promoting this for years.

it’s all well and good to push a subjective phrase like that around, but have you really seen what your water companies are doing? My particular company is well above leakage target set by Ofwat. We’re also always well above our pressure target set by Ofwat, because as a company full of like minded people (who aren’t just slaves to the goverment or the regulatory bodies) we know that when WE go home at night, we also require the same water usage as our customers that we spend 7 and a half hours on the phone to every day.

Our pipework could stretch to the other end of the earth if we laid it out flat, and we file every report of a leak, we pass it out to our technicians quickly, and we do our best to get it sorted. Unfrtunately it’s not as simple as leak-report-fix. There’s varying issues to contend with as a lawful company.

1) The source of the leak has to be found. Leaks don’t always come up in the same area that they’re sourced from, depedning on ground levels and style (brick, concrete, grass, etc.).

2) The pipework isn’t always adequate to find leaks- a large portion of piping nowadays is blue poly, which is plastic. When a plastic pipe leaks, it vibrates slightly or not at all, making it difficult to hear for vibrations, the basic test of which has been going on for decades.

3) A company would then need authorization from the local council to dig on their land. Councils have up to 10 working days to issue their sayso.

4) We then have to take customers in to consideration if there are any about. If the water is going to be off for an extended period of time and we believe there is reasonable evidence to show people will be majorly affected, we will have to issue a 48hour minimum notice.

I agree with Dan, why are these multinational sports conglomerants given special treatment. Block them out and mayhem will occur. This will result in immediate action by the goverment to get these greedy water companies to sort the problem out pronto.

Regards,
Davy.

I will certainly be sticking to the law regardless of what I think about the water companies and the government legislation that allows them to operate as they do.

Mine’s a definite no vote. Why should I observe the ban?

I pay just over £500 in water rates this year which has been rising steeply over the years. The water company and their shareholders are presumably doing very well out of this.

I also pay Sky TV a similar amount and their product is ‘delivered’ to me every day and has been for years. If Sky’s service suddenly became poor I would stop paying them and/or ask for a refund. Sadly we can’t do this with water companies can we?

This is too too dumb for words!!! Just because Sky has sky in the name doesn’t mean it can in any way be related to water which comes from the sky. One relies on satellites, the other relies on clouds – one can be controlled, the other not. If there’s no rain, there’s no water.

As a hydrologist, I cannot believe that folk can simply ignore the fact that there’s been very little rain and blame it on the water company’s ‘leaks’. Bottom line, it costs money to collect, purify and distribute water. The water company’s can only fix leaks as fast as their budget – i.e. how much YOU pay will allow them. People don’t get into the water industry to become billionaires. Engineers/hydrologists/scientists in this country are paid less than most public sector employees. The new replacement Polyethylene pipe is extremely expensive, so your water bills are not going to pay for a complete new water distribution system any time soon!

So stop being so b****y selfish and grow some collective responsibility…water companies aren’t deities…if there’s no rain, there’s no water…don’t use what little we have on your personal low priority needs.

Phil O
MEnd, MSc Hydrology

If you hadn’t noticed we are surrounded by water! We don’t have to wait till it rains.

The water compaines need to invest more in desalination plants in the South East. I know Thames Water has one, I just hope we will get some more in the near future. With climate change and population increase something has got to be done.

Yes we do need to be better at recycling water and using it more intelligently as well not just blame the water companies but we are paying for a service and they need to invest wisely.

Sure you’re paying for a service…but not service from a desalination plant. How much do you think it’d cost to build and run a desalination plant and build and run pipelines to have it all pumped uphill in-land. Double your water bill for starters…then ramp it up every time the price of oil goes up as electricity is the largest portion of desalination cost. So, sure, if you don’t mind doubling your water bill for the privilege of hose-piping your vegetables, then start campaigning for desalination plants. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t back you up and remain content to pay an ordinary bill and not use the hose in the odd instance of low rainfall.

Yes desalination is going to add money to your bill, but do you think Thames Water has doubled everyone’s bill? I don’t think so.

And how we produce our electricity is a whole different issue.

It’s not just about if you can use a hose pipe or not, we are talking water shortages here which if things get worse we could end up with no water which is crazy for a country surrounded by the stuff.

‘Odd instance of low rainfall’? The last 2 years has been low rainfall which is why have have got a hose pipe ban in April. If this coming winter is also low we could be in trouble next year.

Lets stop acting like a third world country and invest before it’s too late!

I would have more sympathy if:

Thousands of new houses haddn’t been built with no extra water storage, any child that’s played simcity knows that as your population increases you need more investment in infrastructure.

Consumers had a choice in their water suppliers.

The government had incentivised the public to store rain water.

Companies didn’t waste ridiculous amounts of water.

Sort this lot out before you make the public into the scapegoats.

To Phil “hydrologist” Outram,
Only after making sure all fault in their infrastructure have been sorted, should the water companies/government impose a ban. have they?
Education is more expensive than threatening. Water shortages are becoming a recurrent issue and the government are doing very, VERY little to educate the population. Have they educated us on how to collect rain water and use it?, have they given any support to people who already took an initiative on this?. No.
If they are going to treat us as mere resources in a company, they should at the very least use proactive and not reactive management techniques¦ in other words: don’t wait for the poo to hit the fan to do something about it, anticipate instead. But now again what’s the point in discussing this?. We will all pay regardless.

To all my fellow lambs: good luck.

Wow, so your a made up hydrologist! Your comment is beyond stupid! It’s uneducated and i’ll informed. The water companies have reported profits of billions for years and paying out huge dividends basically slapping everyone in the face with the constant raising in bills for a service that is astronomically poor. Also the budget for repairing the pipes is so poor because they refuse to do anything about it, they do the absolute minimum to keep services going to maximise profits and dividend. And just to make it even more of a joke the water companies loose more water through poor equipment, and huge leeks that don’t get fixed than everyone The country put together. Oh as we are throwing around qualifications I have a degree in applied biochemistry, a BEng, MSc in mech engineering with many years of working within the water sector and unfortunately with the complete shambles of water companies. So I’m sorry your absolutely wrong. Oh and on about rainfall we have more than enough to overcome any dry spell, it’s the lack of storage and lazy water companies more intrested in profits and also looking for another pi$$ poor reason like a bit of warm weather for 2 weeks to put prices up!

The water companies have been making record profits, and have been taking them and squirreling them off in tax havens. The system of pipes, bringing that already treated water to our doors is leaking at a rate if three billion litres a day. Whether your pay is less than public sector workers is a side point that doesn’t add anything, however I suggest it no true as a like for like role wouldn’t exist. As for managers of your water companies they are indeed in it for the money http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-5078471/Britain-s-water-firms-flush-profits-tax-havens.html. It is true water in water out, but your view is also simplic, surely with better infrastructure, to capture winter flood waters, we could store more, while preventing floods, instead of letting it flow out to sea. Also the whole model for charging customers is wrong and creates resentment. I live in a flat with a water meter, I use around 0.17 cubic meter of water a month. I recycle my bath water to flush loo. Yet 65% of my bill is service charges, so a person using much more water gets cheaper water per cubic metre than the low user this is stupid, service charges should be a gradient linked to consumption?
Peter Kidd BSc Hons

In case you haven’t noticed, it barely ever rains – NOT that I in any way defend the water companies. We were already in drought a year ago and there was no ban because they wanted to keep raking in the money as water flowed through our meters. Unfortunately half the population is still NOT metered. Your selfish attitude will come back to haunt you when we have no more water.

Having to rely on rain to supply drinkable water is absolutely ridiculous in this day and age! The planet’s surface is over 70% water and somehow we’re still gambling on the weather which we all know is pretty unpredictable! How about instead of spending a fortune on war our government start funding scientific development programs for more efficient desalination plants!

What hardly ever rains which country are you living in ? If it’s the uk it’s contantly rained! So much so floods have happened all over the country! We have now 2 bloody weeks of sun and everyone’s up in arms about no water what a load of rubish! First off report the million upon millions of immigrants back that have illegally flooded out country (yes that also includes the killings of Eastern Europeans who have come here iligally as we where iligally taken In To the Eu.) then not only will we have a hugely reduced consumption but more money better nhs cheaper housing reduction in taxes… also one of the only things I agree with labour about is for the public to take back control of our infrastructure, water, power and transport.

Yeah. Why should you stick to the rules. Sod the rest of the country. Do as you please, Trev. Let’s all become anarchists and really b****r up the country. As someone else said, you selfish. I reckon that’s how you go on through life. If I find out you’re my neighbour then I’ll be keeping a watchful eye on you.

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