Hosepipe Ban

[SMW]

OK so from tomorrow (3 April) my water company are implementing a hosepipe ban.

How does this work though as I can not use a hosepipe to clean my car but I can go to the local petrol station and use their car wash (not that I would).

The petrol station will pay for the water they use but surely the issue is the consumption of water not whether it is paid for or not and anyway I have a water meter at home ? ?

Thoughts ?

[daktari]

It`s the same down here. We`ve had a hosepipe ban in force for 2 weeks. But i think you`ll find it only applies to households and not business.

AFAIK where i work we don`t pay for the water we actually use. we just pay a flat rate. I would imagine it`s the same for other businesses. Did you know - Farms don`t pay water rates full stop. Which makes sense i suppose. We`d all be paying £5 a kilo for spuds otherwise.

So the upshot of this is. I cant use a hosepipe to wash my car at home but i can use the pressure washer at work and 3 million gallons of water to wash it.

[Demonic Angel]

Surely businesses use more water than households though?

Edit - On second thought... maybe not.... lol I'm sure the cups of tea for a business are small in comparison to the washing machine/dishwasher/showers/baths/cups of tea in the household... lol

Edited April 2, 2006 by Demonic Angel

[vmail]

I dont understand why water companies dont convert sea water to fresh water, boats can do it cheaply

[daktari]

Surely businesses use more water than households though?

Edit - On second thought... maybe not.... lol I'm sure the cups of tea for a business are small in comparison to the washing machine/dishwasher/showers/baths/cups of tea in the household... lol

Two things Em. Your obviously unaware of the amount of tea we drink.

We have to pressure wash nearly everything that comes into the workshop and the amount of water that uses is staggering.

[jaxx]

I dont understand why water companies dont convert sea water to fresh water, boats can do it cheaply

it is very easy but of course companys will complain about how muc it will cost to impliment desalinisation plants.

at the end of the day the reason why this occurs is due to the old nackered victorian water mains rotting away and sending the best part of fresh water supplies back into the ground. Hence why most of them are being replaced. But this is a long and labourious task which will take years.

Some people blame less rainfall, but the main problem is the pipes

[daktari]

I dont understand why water companies dont convert sea water to fresh water, boats can do it cheaply

Desalination i think it`s called. The Saudis are very big on it, for obvious reasons. But their plants cost Billions of pounds. I can`t see our water companies investing that amount. It would make sense long term though.

[jaxx]

I dont understand why water companies dont convert sea water to fresh water, boats can do it cheaply

Desalination i think it`s called. The Saudis are very big on it, for obvious reasons. But their plants cost Billions of pounds. I can`t see our water companies investing that amount. It would make sense long term though.

i just said that

[daktari]

i just said that

In Swahili. :P

[Karma Supra]

I dont understand why water companies dont convert sea water to fresh water, boats can do it cheaply

That what I thought... use sea water in power plants to create the steam to drive the turbines... when the water condenses its pretty much 100% pure distilled water, pipe of some of the hot stuff to heat local homes, let the other stuff cool more and add it to water resevoirs...

Hell you could even sell the evaporated salt!!! of course the governmetn is not really concerned about the environment, they only pretend to be in order to extort more tax from us!!!

In the park in which we live, there has been a VERY large water leak for over 8 months. there is a water guage just before the leak and the pipe is leaking so much, the guage is turning over as fast as a second hand ona clock. Thames water have been told about it repeatedly since it was spottedover 8 months ago... yet they have still done nothing at all!!!!

This, as Rob said, is the real reason why we have a hosepipe ban.

[Boro Sera]

Living on Teesside, it's always entertaining to hear of hosepipe bans in other areas. We will NEVER get one, due to being suplied by the biggest reservoir in the known universe.

Like it's been said though, there's plenty of water for everyone.....it just leaks through the old pipework and into the earth

[Demonic Angel]

Surely businesses use more water than households though?

Edit - On second thought... maybe not.... lol I'm sure the cups of tea for a business are small in comparison to the washing machine/dishwasher/showers/baths/cups of tea in the household... lol

Two things Em. Your obviously unaware of the amount of tea we drink.

We have to pressure wash nearly everything that comes into the workshop and the amount of water that uses is staggering.

Yeah... I must admit, when I thought of that, I thought of our office.... which uses water for three things - making the tea, washing the cups/hands and going to the loo!

So for our office of 10, thats not a great deal, I suppose if you have a massive company of 1,000 people, then thats an incredible amount of water consumption....

We're on a water meter at our house, which means (I think!) that any hosepipe bans dont affect us.... I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm wrong though... lol

[Gareth B]

i just said that

In Swahili. :P

rofl

[SMW]

Em

No I have a meter but the hosepipe ban still effects me - that was what I was trying to say - why can't I pay for it but a petrol station can

From my water companies site -

Only 1% of the earth’s water can be used for drinking

South East England has 50% less rainfall on average than the rest of the country

South East England has less water available per head than Morocco, Egypt or Kenya. Source: Environment Agency

20% of clean water used in the home is flushed down the toilet

[Gareth B]

My uncle runs the de-salination plant in Cyprus. It's an amazing setup, the intake looks like something out of a Bond film 500m offshore.

It creates a huge mountain of salt which i've been trying to import to supermarkets over here for the past 18 months with minimal success :(

They rely on it heavily over there and are trying to build a second one but are having problems locating it because nobody wants a huge plant next to their land!

[stevetubbyturbo]

have not heard of a hosepipe ban here yet but i dare say it will only be time.

The thing that gets me is they scream on at joe public to save water and ban hosepipes when they are lossing about 900 million litres a day i leaks in their pipes

http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/business/4681211.stm

[daktari]

We`ve been on meters on the Island for about 12 years or so and we can virtually guarantee a hose ban every summer. (Never been this early though) The meters were supposed to help people control the amount of water they used. But research since they were installed has shown that on average the amount of water used in households over here has only been reduced by about 10%. Ironically we`ve had about an inch & a half of rain since the ban was introduced.

[Ryan1985]

It seems to be all good in Scotland but it does rain alot here!

[selfbuild]

Did you know - Farms don`t pay water rates full stop. Which makes sense i suppose. We`d all be paying £5 a kilo for spuds otherwise.

Ermm... Yes they do....

I work for a potatoe wholesalers (aswell as growing spuds, so it's still regarded as a farm) and we use a heck of alot of water. We rely on 3 resevoirs to clean them using barrel washers, so we recycle alot of it but we still use alot of tap water for washing down etc, but these resevoirs need to be dug out every year or so due to silt build up and then refilled.

The water people are reading the meter nearly every month so they can bill us for the water we've used.

Most farms also rely on resevoirs as they can not tap straight into the mains to water the crops that need alot of water.

[JAHill]

It's sheer stupidity. We haven't got one yet but there will be one soon. It just smacks of idiocy that I can drive off to Asda (using fuel in the process, "greenhouse gasses, greenhouse gasses"), squirt my car down using a leaky jetwash using tons of water and drive back (more fuel) as opposed to getting the hose out, blast the muck, wash with a couple of buckets, hose down, dry, polish. No driving. Duuuuuhhhhhh!

I don't have a problem with letting the lawn die. Great. No more cutting the damn grass. Companies need to do more to avoid wastage and the water companies need to sort out the crappy supply pipes.

[Robie]

When water companies can improve on their 99.9% of water lost between their reserviours and our houses, then I will start listening about turning the tap off when brushing my teeth.

[mikeb]

It's the tossers that leave a sprinkler running on their lawn all summer that ruin it for everyone. The bloke across the road from me leaves his sprinkler running from May to September, all night you can hear it - click, click, click, click, click.

I'm sure with all these 10's of thousands of new houses that the govt. want to see built in the SE, adequate provisions for water supplies have been made...

[Special Red]

Its been p!ssing it down all year in Manchester!!!

[Karma Supra]

We water our lawn...... and why not? God knows we pay enough tax!

The water shortages are caused by shoddily maintained old pipework, see my example above ;)

[JAHill]

Hang on... Just heard a Thames Water official on the radio... You can fill up/top up your swimming pools and fish pools (fair play) with mains supplied water during a hosepipe ban! :ffs:

Oh and it's okay to use garage car washers because they "recycle the majority of the water" - well, so do I. There is a border down the side of my drive with plants in it. They get the run off.

However, you can use recycled water to wash your car. Ah ha, ah ha, ah haaaa. Nice one.

I swear, I'm gonna pop. It's not even effecting me yet and I'm already fuming.