The Hose Pipe Ban In Southern England

[Aqua Tom]

Thanks OM.
I did pick up on the fact that a hosepipe was a hose and because of that I just could not, for some reason, wrap my head around the term "hosepipe ban".
I took it quite literally at first read, and had to know "why in the heck are they banning hoses in the UK?"

Dont count your chikens yet, that may be coming sooner than we know.

Ps, I live in South essex & it has rained every single day since the hosepipe (watering) ban came into effect.

EDIT -- Just looked outside & its RAINING again

Tom

 

[Akasha72]

So far, we're okay here in Yorkshire (England for those in the US) but I'm already storing dirty fish water to water the garden this summer.

I think the problem with lack of water stems from the fact that they've not built any new resoviors to allow for the amount of new homes been built.
It stands to reason - more homes = more water demand = either build more resoviors to cope with demand or stop building more new homes!

Hope the rain continues anyway in the south - you certainly need it

 

[cms091]

Yup it's the same thing. It cracks me up because one of the great British pastimes is moaning about the weather yet you go a week without rain and they quickly slap a hosepipe ban on lol

Unfortunately we have gone very much longer than a week without rain. Over the past 5 years the rainfall over the south-eastern half of the UK has been far below 'normal'. The reservoirs are only about half full at the time of year when they ought to be completely full.

Last year the west midlands (where I am) had no rain to speak of from the beginning of march to the middle of june. Nearly half the annual rain should have fallen during those weeks.

As the OP stated, fish keepers don't need to worry. Water used for the keeping or wellbeing of animals is excluded from bans. It's the folk who wash their cars or water the garden that have to stop using hosepipes.

Personally I don’t wash my car unless, like last year, somehow an egg gets broken on it! And if I can’t eat it, it doesn’t get watered. So only the tomatoes get water in my garden. And the grass always recovers when the rain does fall.

Cathy

 

[Lufbramatt]

I decant my old fish tank water into my watering can and give the garden a water while I'm cleaning the tank out. The 60 litres of water I take out of the tank is just the right amount to water all my plants

 

[nigsy]

The problem stems from several years of low rainfall. The reservoir levels are just a symptom of an underlying issue and that is the natural water aquifers that feed the rivers are at an all time low, coupled with heavier extraction for industry and farming direct from the rivers, means less water for the reservoir - add to that the issue of massive house building projects in the midlands (Severn Trent district) and the South East with no change to the infrastructure just compound the problem. I live in Devon and most of our reservoirs are at the 80% mark, but with the summer coming and visitor numbers expected to be high due to 'Staycations' (I hate that term!) I don't think it will be long before we see a similar ban.

They said on the news, we would need 2 months of solid steady rain to re-coup normal reservoir levels. Rain Macs at the ready!!

 

[gforce17]

One of the problems is that the water isn't in the right place at the right time and we haven't got a proper national grid system to shift it about. So it can be raining like mad in my area but they need the water somewhere else. Life's a *****!