Water Company bod just stated on the news that they would not be policing the hosepipe ban as such but would rely on people reporting their neighbors for the sin of hosepiping,right then,do the Constabulary turn up to the hosers address to feel collars? then there is the burden of proof,if no time and date stamped mobile phone footage of the water criminal exists surely it is just one mans word agin another.
'Not me officer,that buggah next door is telling you porkies because I kicked his cat ten years ago'
Does it have to go to court or is a ticket issued with a fixed 1000 quid fine?
One asks as a interested outsider being oop norf and having more water than a stick could be shook at.
:)

Water Authority will send a letter to the offender, followed-up by a visit.

It should be obvious if the garden is green and lush . . .

Ah! Green and lush it may be but who is to say it isn't secondhand bathwater which can claim the credit for that?

What about the proof I mentioned? they send you the aforementioned letter and you send one back saying buggah off! I never used a hosepipe,prove it.
One sees fun and games here.
Frinstance were many people nicked and fined during previous hosepipe bans? anybody know?
Anyway as I mentioned elsewhere one can apparently still use a hosepipe to wash down one's dog.many possibilities there,
'Yer Honor I was not watering me roses I was just washing down Towser but he would not keep still and was pursuing the neighbors moggy round and round the garden.
:)

Blue card holders can still use a 'pipe on their gardens. So there.

By Blue Card, do you mean Blue Badge for disabled parking old chap?

Why not move up to Lancashire where the grass is allways greener ?http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gifhttp://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gif

Then again, "thinks", no, better not, stay down south and die of thirst in your £million mansions http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gif http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gif http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gif

Lid

What about if everybody on the street agrees to ignore the ban and they ALL hosepipe their gardens.......who's going to grass? (excuse the pun)

For our friends in the torrid, parched and arid South / South East.......:E

Torrents of sympathy from the saturated North.....

Marty Robbins.Cool water. - YouTube

However, despite the headlines, how many £1000 fines do you actually expect to see imposed?.......ans.....zero.

Other than possibly on some tosser who decides he / she will make a "defiant gesture of futility" against the water company "nanny state" edicts..in their selfish perception that is.

Cool water.

Sometimes it's possible to get too much of a good thing.

9zxpODJIhTo

Wan Wei Luke, you beat me to it, I was thinking of exactly the same clip!
Loved watching that as a young child.

AS the hosepipe ban comes into force, it has emerged that Thames Water is losing enough water to fill an Olympic swimming pool 269 times a day.
The utility company, one of seven that imposed bans on Thursday, has lost an estimated 673 million litres each day in the 12 months ending March 31.

It is by far the worst offender in the country in terms of leakages, according to figures collated by industry regulator Ofwat.

The firm with the second highest leak rate was Severn Trent, which has wasted 474m litres a day during the same period.

The total volume of water being lost by firms in England and Wales in 2011/12 is 3.288 billion litres every 24 hours.

Curbs on watering gardens, washing cars and filling pools have begun as the country heads towards its worst water shortage for nearly a century.
It comes after two consecutive dry winters have left reservoir levels unusually low, and the region officially in drought as a result.

Anyone caught flouting the ban faces a fine of up to £1,000.

Thames Water is banning the use of hosepipes in the region, along with Southern Water, South East Water, Sutton and East Surrey and Veolia South East.

An estimated 93m litres is being lost by Southern Water daily, while South East Water wastes around 95m litres.

Veolia Water South East has a current leak rate of 7.8m litres a day, while Sutton and East Surrey Water’s rate stands at 25m litres.

A spokesman for Ofwat said: “Missing leakage targets is a serious failure. Where companies have consistently failed to manage leakage in the past, Ofwat has made them invest £195m from their own pockets putting the problem right.

“As companies ask their customers to conserve water and use it wisely, customers have a right to expect that their water company meets its commitments and obligations.

“These failures send a poor signal about how companies value water.”
While Thames Water faces criticism for its leakage figures, it has also raised prices by 6.75% this week after making an operating profit of £600m last year. It is the country’s biggest water supplier, providing for 8.8m customers. Other firms have increased prices by up to 8.8%.

But despite the leakages, Thames Water is still abiding by its targets set by Ofwat and is expected to lose the same volume next year.

Thames Water 'worst for leaks' as hosepipe ban begins - News - getsurrey (http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2111486_thames_water_worst_for_leaks_as_hosepipe_ban_begins)


as i understand it, that £600m operating profit was after the expenditure of £195m of system investment as demanded by OFWAT.

isn't it great being a consumer in the UK ?

'Not me officer,that buggah next door is telling you porkies because I kicked his cat ten years ago' If I was that "buggah next door...", I'd prolly water next door's garden with a hose-pipe for 10 minutes at 2am every night over several weeks before calling the authorities. If the authorities really need "proof" including date & time stamps, I'd film it all with my mobile phone and upload it live to Google or whatever. Obviously, the hose-nozzle would have been snuck in under next door's fence :E

Interesting to note that despite all the hosepipe bans, commercially-operated car washes will continue to be allowed to operate...?! Perhaps simply a politically-motivated initiative by the current coalition UK government to boost businesses - by all means use the same (if not much greater) amounts of water to wash your car at a commercial car wash compared to at home? You'll pay 10 times (?) the actual cost of the water to keep your car clean, the same amount (if not more) of water will be really used - what is the sense of a ban then...?! :confused:

As usual, all of it is an example of how governments (not limited to the UK only) have ceased actual management or responsibility for basic resources (water, electricity etc.), having simply farmed it all out to private enterprises (who don't control the weather, surprise, surprise).

In these difficult times, perhaps those living in the SE of the UK should make some efforts to invite strangers into their gardens for a pee (those residing nearest to local pubs might have greater success). Or else even welcome the next door neighbour's felines to defecate in the rose beds...?! :ok:

The nearest we ever got was a couple of years ago, into a long dry spell, when citizens were politely asked not to request the Fire Service to come round and fill up their swimming pools, as was the custom. The firemen were too busy hosing down the municipal flower beds.

What hacks me off big time is the thought of the amount of water that will be wasted during the Olympic willy waving contest.

the Olympic willy waving contest.
Is that one of the exhibition sports?

I've heard that the Jocks will have thier water cut off before too
long. Scottish Water want to divert it all down South. WE pay more !!

Perhaps simply a politically-motivated initiative by the current coalition UK government to boost businesses - by all means use the same (if not much greater) amounts of water to wash your car at a commercial car wash compared to at home?


yep it's a grand conspiracy by the lib dems and the evil tories. they knew they would be in a coalition so they cut deals with the water companies years ago to prevent them from maintaining the water infrastructure, so they could bilk millions of their customers, impose a water ban and then kick start the economy, by way of the 3.99 car wash to romanian/polish/albanian immigrants. brilliant-ski !


by all means use the same (if not much greater) amounts of water to wash your car at a commercial car wash compared to at home? You'll pay 10 times (?) the actual cost of the water to keep your car clean, the same amount (if not more) of water will be really used - what is the sense of a ban then...?! http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/confused.gif


now that i agree with.

byt then again listening to the interbiews with the water representatives all they can keep doing is keep reciting what a brilliant job they are doing, losing 25% of what they treat through leaks and how the brilliant chief execs are worth the 1.m pay package they get.

one was bleating about how they lost leaks beacuase the water system was 110 years old etc etc. shame the interviewer didn't pose the question 110 years old ? should have f:mad:kin' updated them years ago then!

or the fact that some roman aqueducts are still in use after some 2,000 years and dont lose 5%, let alone 25% of what goes into them.


meanwhile, while london is on a hosepipe ban due to a water shortage [sic] much of london's underground infrastructure is at risk due to.. erm a rising water table..

London: Before the flood | The Economist (http://www.economist.com/node/569718)

The Environment Agency estimates that a total of about 50m litres of water a day is currently being pumped out from beneath London. But that figure needs to be doubled within ten years in order to stabilise the water level.

Thames Water claims that the rate of increase in the water table is slowing from about three metres to two metres a year. But that rate of increase still has to come down further, and quickly

If everybody was metered and had to pay for the water that they use then not so much would be wasted. The domestic cusomer would cut down their use because of the cost and the water companies would double their efforts to fix the leaks because it will be costing them money.
All the countries I have been in that have 100% water meters never seem to have a water shortage.

We are metered by choice and pay less than half of our unmetered neighbour (same family make up) on the standard rate. We are not yet affected by the hosepipe ban but I never water the garden anyway, if the grass goes brown it will green up again with time and I won't need to mow it.

Why are disabled people exempt? I don't get that part at all!

If everybody was metered and had to pay for the water that they use then not so much would be wasted.


if everyone was metered, 25% would still be lost to leaks and mis-mangement as it it lost in delivery to the customer, not by the customer.

I think the point was that some water companies may waste up to 25% through leakage but how much does the domestic customer waste, taps left running, toilets flushing, sprinklers left on, car washing, garden paths/decking washed down. all done with very clean treated water, doesn't make sense especially round here in one of the driest parts of the country. People think of the UK as being wet but with an average of 530mm of rain per year we are nearly semi arid here!


I wonder how much electrickery and gas leaks out of the system?

Always confused by waste of water - if i leave a tap running, the water goes down the plug hole, into the drains and back into the system does it not? So where pray is the waste?

Water from the tap has been purified to ensure it is fit for drinking.
Most of the water that we use is not consumed, but it is nevertheless clean enough to be drunk.
We do not need purified water to flush the toilet or wash the patio (or even to water the lawn or garden plants) but it has all passed through the costly treatment.
When it is returned directly to the drain this constitutes a waste of energy.

Waste of energy? So no waste of water, more a waste of water company profit?

@<hidden> airship

All commercial car-washes will be recycling 100% of water used : it was good business-sense long before it became the sensitive thing to do.

Well not really, there are a business after all so will always desire to make profit for themselves and shareholders. The more fresh clean water that is flushed straight down the drain or returned to the system just means that in an effort to keep the profit margins high everyone ends up paying more because some people think its ok to waste. ("I pay my water rates so I will use (waste) as much as I want etc")

Some people are sniffy about the utilities making profit but I don't understand it. When nationalised every one ended up paying twice, you paid your bill (or water rates) and you paid through taxation as these companies were badly run at a loss and a lot more than 25% was lost in leaks.

The answer surely is to apply the same charge for water to the companies as levied on customers. Each litre lost would come straight off the profits.

We have a hosepipe ban. Big deal - there's been enough rain for there to have been a puddle in the field just over my hedge since January. The garden is still squelchy underfoot, too, especially with our Easter weather.

It's different apparently in south Wiltshire, though.

http://www.zen40267.zen.co.uk/rainfall/rainfall_charts/rainfall_summary.pdf.jpg-imperial.jpg

BBC News - Water minister denies People hosepipe ban claim (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17650230)

I suppose the let out for people with blue parking badges is because they can't carry watering cans - at least, some of them can't. I have a blue badge and a very wet garden.....and somewhere, I think I have a hosepipe. Haven't seen it for some years.

Had a good think about this stood under the shower this morning.

Grey water catchment, filtration and recycling isn't new so, why aren't the Building Regulations updated to reflect this? Could there be some kind of financial inducement to encourage developers to take this up?

A national water grid should be in place now. Successive governments have had the opportunity to establish a limited network to solve the supply/demand hot spots. The principle is the same as for elastictrickery.

Could treated water be reintroduced to reservoirs and aquifers?

Could national housing targets be reworked to take in areas liable to drought? Seems daft build extra homes where existing households cannot be assured of continuity of supply from existing storage?

Lastly, I'm told that the company supplying the Isle of Wight made metering compulsory. It was a great success with a sizable reduction in demand.

So big it hit their profits so they put up prices :ugh:

Finally lastly I found a way to conserve drinking water - wine:ok:

SGC

Would it make more sense to drill your own well? I heard it costs in the region of €150 "per metre down to the water-table" to hire a contractor to do this here in France, but officially at least, you require permission from the local government. In addition, you'd have to install pump/s, a tank, water-pressurising system etc. and perhaps some sort of water-sterilising equipment. The local water authority would probably still want to charge you for treating the waste-water though...?

Living on a small island with no rivers, no lakes and very little rainfall, I find the UK water situation very difficult to comprehend.

With a population of 140,000 and well over a million vistors every year, we never run out of water.

The reason for this, is that all of our water is desalinated sea water, which we are led to believe is a natural resource which is increasing in availability !

The issue in the UK surrounding the annual shortages was supposed to have been resolved after the great sell-offs 1n 1989.

We all knew how that would pan out :ugh:

I find it hard to believe that so many years later, the UK finds itself in this incredible situation.

Despite the fact that the country is falling steadily into third world status, one would think that the basic right of continuous supply of fresh clean water would still be high on the agenda.

Sadly, it appears not !

I blame the government!

Doesn't matter which load of incompetents - it's all their fault.

It would be nice though to use it as an excuse for the headsman, an axe and Tower Green, with T. Blair and G. Brown in the starring roles.....

El Grif,

salient points, however, i don't find the situation difficult to comprehend.

talk of 'competition' in the market is of course bolleaux, unless i have 10 different water companies feeding my house with their own independent infrastructures reservoirs etc.

so the water companies take billions every year from their customers, invest little into the infrastructure that delivers their product, to the tune that 25% of what they deliver is lost in their own wastage.

imagine for one second any company in competitive situation losing 25% of their product in delivery to the customer..

Airlines, losing 25% of seats ? electronics companies losing 25% of their products.. auto manufacturers losing 25% of their cars in the delivery process...

then putting their prices up because of it ??

on top of that, the UK has, without doubt seen a huge increase in population, all requiring water. 150 liters per day, per person..

in 50 years there has not been one single new reservoir in the south east, yet the population has grown considerably in that same period.

so, no increase in system capacity, marginal maintenance of the delivery infrastructure and a huge increase in the population.

the country has been falling into third world state for some time, unfortunately, the platitudes offered by company spokes peoples are never dissected.

blow smoke up the population's asses and carry on raking it in.

Certainly a more academic presentation of the status quo :ok:

I am in total agreement !

Time to nationalize the lot of 'em! :E

:mad: typical, :mad: Govt introduce ban and the:mad: weather rains down with lots of the stuff.:ugh:

God showing what he thinks of politicians.:D

Ciaran Nelson, a spokesman for Anglian Water, said that constant rainfall was needed “for weeks if not months” to reverse the current situation. “We have had less rainfall in the last 18 months than in the last century,” he said.

It is no real surprise that the water supply is in a mess when this staggering intellectual seems astonished that there was less rainfall in 18 months than there was in 1,200 months.

Maybe it's a simple slip of the tongue, seized upon as a cheap shot? Just a thought.

So with no new reservoirs, they still want to build more houses in the South East. Really makes sense.....

So with no new reservoirs, they still want to build more houses in the South East. Really makes sense.....

Don't worry about it. Most of them are being built on flood plains, so when it does eventually rain they'll get plenty of water.

Don't worry about it. Most of them are being built on flood plains, so when it does eventually rain they'll get plenty of water.

Bit like our village where the developers of a small new estate asked the parish council for suggestions to name it. The accepted name, supplied by an old farmer from the village, been on the council for lots of years, was 'Spring Rise'.

'That's a pretty name', they said, 'what made you think of that?'.

Farmers reply was 'Wait until it rains. Then you'll find out'.

Reminds me of when my employer engaged contractors to reshape 700 acres of farmland to form a vehicle test track (including steep hills).

The elderly erstwhile farmer (having been displaced from his land) could be found in the local village pub holding forth on the disasters in store as they were ignoring springs and watercourses to achieve their aims.

His description of having walked the land nine inches at a time only made sense when I realised that he was talking about having followed behind a single-furrow plough (pulled by a horse, of course). This meant that, over the years he knew every wet patch that occurred.

The contractors' engineers dismissed his claims as being the ramblings of a confused old man, however, shortly after the track was opened for use, the approach to the 'hill route' flooded to a depth of ten feet and pumps had to be installed to cope with the water that emerged from the workings and his predictions were proven to have been correct.