Hose pipe ban?

My lawn is .. brown and unwatered (same with the borders) since the start of the draught. Most things have died off except some pollinator friendly plants in pots that I water using a watering can.

The Koi pond.. does get a top up when evaporation causes the water level to drop dangerously. If not it will (a) kill the fish, and (b) the rotting pond will then become a safety hazard unless cleaned out ... with water.

It's funny I can fill a bucket quicker from my tap than I can if I use my K2 pressure washer as it has less throughput. So the car gets a wash perhaps every 3 weeks at the moment - quick spray, foam, rinse, bucket mitt wash and final rinse. Each step with the pressure washer uses less than filling a small bucket (based on time). This better than every weekend as I have done in the past..

Last time I washed it.. the water provider had no hosepipe ban. Still seems no ban in place..
 
theone8181 said:
Stupid question but could you not just use a pressure washer connected to a water butt, or even a hosepipe just to annoy neighbours:D (until the level drops and your hose stops working)?
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I do use a pressure washer on with he water butts.

Washing a car with a pressure washer significantly drops water usage anyway.
 
NickK said:
The Koi pond.. does get a top up when evaporation causes the water level to drop dangerously. If not it will (a) kill the fish, and (b) the rotting pond will then become a safety hazard unless cleaned out ... with water.
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You are allowed to use a hope pipe to fill fish ponds during a hose pipe ban.
 
theone8181 said:
Stupid question but could you not just use a pressure washer connected to a water butt, or even a hosepipe just to annoy neighbours:D (until the level drops and your hose stops working)?
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It's all a bit silly really. So you connect a hosepipe to your water butt, and the neighbour then reports you to the water company, who come round to inspect and find it is attached to the water butt. But what's stopping you from connecting it to the mains, and then connecting it to the water butt after you've finished in case the water company does turn up. I'd imagine when they've visited once and are happy it's running off a water butt they won't bother inspecting again.

Another reason for rolling out mass water meters.
 
amigafan2003 said:
You are allowed to use a hope pipe to fill fish ponds during a hose pipe ban.
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Nope.
However I have a small pond that is around 150gal and wouldn't be able to fill it up but if I had a 150gal aquarium in the house and filled it up from the kitchen tap using aquarium tubing then that'd be OK.
Fortunately we've been told no ban this summer due to heavy rain in spring that has topped up water sources enough.
 
gort said:
Nope.
However I have a small pond that is around 150gal and wouldn't be able to fill it up but if I had a 150gal aquarium in the house and filled it up from the kitchen tap using aquarium tubing then that'd be OK.
Fortunately we've been told no ban this summer due to heavy rain in spring that has topped up water sources enough.
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Yes you are. Direct from the email UU sent me:-

Are there any exceptions?

Customers who meet the requirements below can continue to use water without needing permission from United Utilities but are asked to use water wisely and adopt 'water efficient practices':

• Using a hosepipe for health or safety reasons ie. removing or minimising any risk to human or animal health or safety or preventing or controlling the spread of disease

• Watering plants that are grown or kept for sale or commercial use, or are part of a National Plant Collection or temporary garden or flower display

• Filling or maintaining a pool used for medical treatment

• Filling or maintaining a pool that is used to decontaminate animals from infections or disease or for veterinary treatment

• Filling or maintaining a pool in which fish or other aquatic animals are being reared or kept in captivity

• Filling or maintaining a domestic pond in which fish or other aquatic animals are being reared or kept in captivity

• Filling or maintaining an ornamental fountain which is in or near a fish-pond and whose purpose is to supply sufficient oxygen to the water in the pond in order to keep the fish healthy.
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And another from the leaflet they popped through the door:-

What can't I do when I'm on a hosepipe ban?

Watering a garden using a hosepipe.
Cleaning a private motor-vehicle using a hosepipe.
Watering plants on domestic or other non-commercial premises using a hosepipe.
Cleaning a private leisure boat using a hosepipe.
Filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool, except by using a hand held container filled directly from a tap.
Drawing water, using a hosepipe, for domestic recreational use.
Filling or maintaining a domestic pond using a hosepipe, except where fish or other aquatic animals are being reared or kept in captivity.
Filling or maintaining an ornamental fountain, except where an ornamental fountain is in a fish pond.
Cleaning walls, or windows, of domestic premises using a hosepipe.
Cleaning paths or patios using a hosepipe.
Cleaning other artificial outdoor surfaces using a hosepipe.
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robj20 said:
Does all that mean you can clean a car with a jetwash?
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Jetwashes still have a hosepipe (all be it high pressure). Plus jetwashes are nearly always connected to the water supply using a hosepipe (which would fall foul of the "Drawing water, using a hosepipe, for domestic recreational use. " exclusion).
 
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What can't I do when I'm on a hosepipe ban?

Watering a garden using a hosepipe.
Watering plants on domestic or other non-commercial premises using a hosepipe.
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I wonder if that bans having a mains water feed irrigation system which I have for our greenhouse? I'd guess the irrigation drippers are the most efficient as more of the water can be absorbed with it being applied over a window of a few minutes.
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
I wouldn't mind but UU announced this ban (for in the future because they know it's not going to rain now until next month somehow) after a massive downpour where my street actually ended up flooded because the pipes couldn't take all the water.

Not equipped for drought not equipped for rain cant have it both ways.
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Surface water drainage is almost certainly the responsibility of the council not the water authorities. The water companies are responsible for foul drainage but this shouldn't be connected to road drains etc. If it was, then you'd have been flooded with raw sewage, which I'm guessing you weren't.
 
#Chri5# said:
I wonder if that bans having a mains water feed irrigation system which I have for our greenhouse? I'd guess the irrigation drippers are the most efficient as more of the water can be absorbed with it being applied over a window of a few minutes.
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It does - as the irrigation system consists of hosepipes.

But I don't think Shropshire is getting a hosepipe ban.
 
LeeUK said:
But the hole stays and the temp traffic lights stay for another week before a different crew come along to fill it in.
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Depending on the local authority, the water company might not be allowed to fill it in themselves. The road must be reinstated to whatever standard the council wants, which usually means they insist on their own team to come and do it.

LeeUK said:
Why can't they get the reinstatement team to at least turn up the next day i.e. to follow the leak fixing team.
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Why can't you get your local council to do most things, on the most convenient day? Same reason.

Kenai said:
Surface water drainage is almost certainly the responsibility of the council not the water authorities.
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Road surface, yes. Gullies and associated drainage are usually Highways' responsibility, just as track drainage is for the railways.
However, it often (but not always) joins the main public Surface Sewers, which are the water companies' responsibility. Unfortunately, these oftenh end up blocked because people do things like pouring concrete down them, sweeping roadd into them, stuffing matresses in them, etc etc. A lot of that rubbish you see discarded along the sides of roads - It's the council/Highways' responsibility to keep that cleaned up, but it's also what tends to block up the Surface Sewers as well.
 
amigafan2003 said:
It does - as the irrigation system consists of hosepipes.

But I don't think Shropshire is getting a hosepipe ban.
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We're not but I was thinking of extending it over the winter to cover the raised beds, so no point in spending money on another timer and bits if I couldn't use it.

However, some digging turns up this PDF:

https://www.unitedutilities.com/globalassets/documents/tubfinalweb1.pdf

Customers who meet the criteria below for a Discretionary Universal Exception can continue to use water without having to make representation to United Utilities Water Limited to receive permission to use water for the following restricted uses. It is requested that customers that meet the requirements for a Discretionary Universal Exception use water wisely and adopt water efficient practices
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Use of an approved drip or trickle irrigation watering system, fitted with a pressure reducing valve and a timer, that are not handheld, that place water drip by drip directly onto the soil surface or beneath the soil surface, without any surface run off or dispersion of water through the air using a jet or mist;
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Watering food crops at domestic premises or private allotments using a hosepipe;
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I have a "master" timer on the outside tap with a 2 bar reducer coming off it, so exempt and it's for watering food crops for an extra tick.
 
Kenai said:
Surface water drainage is almost certainly the responsibility of the council not the water authorities. The water companies are responsible for foul drainage but this shouldn't be connected to road drains etc. If it was, then you'd have been flooded with raw sewage, which I'm guessing you weren't.
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Are you sure?

I am 99.8% sure I pay United Utilities for surface water drainage - not sure if this is the same across the UK.

EDIT:
Part of your water bill pays for us to take away the rainwater that falls onto your home – including your roof, your driveway and your path.
 
Semple said:
I guess in theory you could set the paddling pool up directly under the garden tap and fill it up there - technically not using a hosepipe.

Frankly they would almost be better off just saying we ban the use of outside taps.
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So many ways round the ban. I'm going to use a 1000 liter tank run the jet wash off that. Fill it up the day before last a good few weeks. Keep it topped up when I can be bothered with a bucket.
 
robj20 said:
So fill tank with tap water using buckets, then run jetwash off the tank?
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Fill a large blue builders bucket from the tap .. the 6 foot out of the gate - dunk one end of a hose pipe of the jet wash into the bucket. No hose pipe from mains supply in use.
 
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