The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Cavendish on March 13, 2012, 11:58:02 am
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Does anyone have any thoughts on the proposed hose pipe ban?....
In my opinion it will be a good thing as it will hopefully make people conscious of the amount of water they use/waste!, I am certainly more conscious since moving house, due to the new house having a water meter.
I am thinking of getting a third water butt and tapping into the main roof down pipe. I am growing lots more veggies this year due to having a larger garden and suspect I will need a larger amount of water.
My pet hate are people who run the tap while brushing their teeth, especially as it cost me more money!!!! >:(
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The place we moved to with 2 acres has a water meter which only became active when we took ownership. In many place people who are paying a set monthly fee based on rateable value may have had water meters fitted which only become active if the current occupiers asks, or by law (I stand to be corrected) when the house is sold.
I have purchased 10 IBCs so have the ability to store 10,000 litres of water.
Of course some could argue that if you are on a water meter you should be allowed to use what you want, as you are paying for exactly what you use.
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our initial thoughts were "phew, I'm glad we moved away from herts to west devon, no hosepipe ban here", then I felt a bit sorry for the people up at our old allotments. They have to suffer because of the profligacy of people like our previous neighbours who would get the sprinkler out every evening on his postage stamp piece of lawn and his pressure wassher out on his hankerchief piece of patio every weekend.
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I wonder how this affects those with a private water supply?
Are they allowed to use as much water as they wish or is the government making the decision for those people too?
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Sorry but this is a BIG prickly subject. Any idea how many litres/gallons of water are lost every HOUR due to broken infrastructure (leaky pipes etc...)? Any idea?
Any idea how much water is being siphoned off the rivers, called abstraction, to compensate for the fact its cheaper than repairing a Victorian waterpipe system? Its now so bad its actually killing wildlife and has reduced many rivers to a fraction of their normal capacity, which causes massive weed growth further compounding the problem of the river silting up. Abstraction is WRONG and is NOT A SOLUTION.
Any idea how they propose to solve the 'problem' of a 'drought' ::) in this country over the next fifteen years? Did you know we get the same rainfall every year across the country within 2 inches as an average? Did you know there were schemes proposed over 50 years ago to transfer water from parts of the country that have an excess but they were shelved? This would have completely solved the problem for all time.
Its about time the water companies were given a severely bloody nose. There is NO REASON for a water shortage in this country. We have more water on this tiny island than we know how to handle, there are no flood defences anymore, no efforts to capture excess run off on any noticeable scale anywhere, no attempts to fix the infrastructure that is so old that in any parts of the country the pipes supplying water are actually leaking metals that are considered quite dangerous. Also google the profits of a water company last year, theres plenty of them listed on the FTSE and paying far higher bonuses to themselves than the banks do .
Hose pipe ban? How about the water companies fix their infrastructure, stop raping the rivers and stop blaming the weather. Its frankly laughable. There are more water-filled gravel pits than land in some parts of the country and they are still digging more (and thats a government directive currently trampling over the greenbelt in their haste to put up a rock basher in a residential area, a rock basher being an enormous 100 foot rock on a chain that thumps 24 hours a day, everyday, all day).
What do I propose to do about the hose pipe ban? I have already done it, I joined the Angling Trust recently who put up an excellent case yesterday at the Wildlife Crime Committee, which was aired on BBC Parliament around lunchtime. There is no shortage of water in this country. Dont believe the hype. 8)
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well said. :thumbsup:
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smalltime who is going to pay for the infrastructure to be repaired who is going to to pay for the transfer of water from one part of the country to another yes you are right me and you and every other water user there is
up in Scotland the water treatment plants were all revamped because the EU said all water had to meet a certain standard in Europe there is a bug in the water that causes illness it is not in the UK but hey ho our treatment plants were upgraded to comply they borrowed millions to pay for it and it is the consumer that is paying the debt off water systems were replaced up in Scotland and every new Toby fitted has a fitting for a meter they are there just waiting to be fitted
there is 3 36 inch plus gas pipes running from st Fergus to bathgate then on to England and ireland there is also an ethylene pipeline running from grangemouth down to England yet they say it cant be done with water they don't want it to be done the technology is there the men and equipment is there the dependency is not there :farmer:
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The water company swore blind that a leak at the bottom of my drive was before my meter and not after but strangely since they (eventually) fixed it my bills have more than halfed.
I collect as much rain water as I can for plants and veg patch, unfortunately I don't have enough water butts just yet to get water for animals but that is planned over the next couple of years. Then the issue is getting it from the butts to the animals but I'm sure I'll work it out.
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We have to feed water via a hose pipe to our chickens 100 metres away. I work on the basis that as it is a supply for livestock it is OK.
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We live about one mile from the Ardingly Reservoir which is severely depleted, what have we got in our road? a water main leak which has been merrily flowing for almost a week now, lots of men giving it lots of looking at, traffic lights causing traffic chaos but no obvious action. At least the water is flowing down towards the reservoir.
There could be a very good reason why its not been fixed as yet but to my way of thinking the water companies should stop bleating and get on with it.
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strangly not we have no water shortage. its been very wet this year.
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I think this is a stunt by BQ and other diy stores
I would bet after today they have a boost in the sales of there hose pipes. :thumbsup:
Is it not 'the use of a hose pipe ban?'
No-one I believe has ever been prosecuted for the use during a 'ban' :&>
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People are being urged not to hose clean their cars but instead go down the local garage and pay £5 to use the huge drive through water guzzlers to keep their cars clean. ;)
People are being urged not to water their gardens so we can have massive expanses of dried up dirt ready for the next rainfall to evaporate straight off and not make it down to the water table. ;)
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I'm really sorry for folk suffering from thism and can't imagine how I'd manage.
Here under Wild Boar Fell (equal rainfall to the more famous 'wettest place in England', Borrowdale) the land is beginning to dry out and if it continues without too much rain (never no rain) for another week I might just be able to get onto my fields to cut the seaves.......
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That's not quite accurate Bazzais! those water guzzlers recycle the water for reuse and are governed. Five pounds however, remains five pounds! ;D
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Especially if you're paying to have your car washed in dirty water.
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mind you, I've never understood this obsession with car cleaning. When we lived in herts I would, on the occasionial sunday, have need to go to the petrol station at the local supermarket. They would be queued 10 deep with more waiting to use the car wash. I'm pretty sure I can think of a couple of better ways to be spending a sunday morning...
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I think those of us who know the importance of water for our animals and crops are probable more cautious how we consume it. Water meters help conserve but I agree that us collecting rain water or watering individual plants, rather than the growing area, is just a token saving compared to the waste reported above.
Water utility and waste will be a very serious issue linked to food sustainability too - it will be the economic consequence ( costs passed onto the consumer) that will hit us first - so get your water harvesting system started.
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It's funny but since we moved to wet Wales with a private water supply and an abundance of rain - we have become much more water aware.
We have water butts collecting from every roof surface (numerous sheds and shelters) and the new house will have a grey and rainwater collection system for flushing toilets etc..... Mind you - since we have a composting toilet as well (and OH is under strict instructions to pee on the compost heap) we should hardly need to use the indoor toilets at all - I hope!!
Ironically - the way things are at the moment - I am taking dirty washing back to my digs in England on a Sunday night to wash and iron ready for return to Wales the following Friday.
We've used so little water whilst living in the caravan that the well is actually overflowing!!
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Here everyone is on a water metre. I was suprised just how much difference the animals and the garden make. After the first year we cleaned out an old underground water store. (I think it had once been a slurry pit draining from the cow sheds not used for many years cleaned out and the water in it looked ok.) We replaced the pond type pump use to empty the hole and fitted a hose pipe to the end which reaches the whole of the veg patch. for the animal buckets I use a line and bucket from the top, well style. It all works very well plus the veg patch has doubled since year one.
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I have had discusions with my brother on this, he is going to get more water storage butts as he is soon being put onto a meter but also worries about all the leaks in the pips and thinks he will be paying for them!!! He, as my dad were plumbers so they have comprehension, dad was a water board inspector so was aware of all the underground leaks.
I remember a draught in the early 70's and that was hard as I had a baby.This year I am not putting up hanging baskets as all the other plants in the ground can look after themselves!! I also clean out the pond and let it fill itself up now we do not have ducks, that worked last year so we will see if it fills this year.
We all waste a lot of water and should recycle our washing water etc but in this busy life style we lead, who want to take the trouble?
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I am not up together on these politics as stay within my own little bubble,however,in 2010 financial year Anglian water made 87Million Gross profit. :o
So,if they make this much,why are there so many hose pipe bans,surely they can keep above it all,there were hose pipe bans in the 70's and 80's that I remember well,all those years of making huge amounts of profit so what are they actually spending it all on?
Obviously something is not right!
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anglian water will not be britsh owned the profits will be going to the investors :farmer:
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Small Beer.
In 2011 Severn Trent netted another £326 million in net profit (their gross operating profit being in excess of £500 million). Thats money from you and me.
From that £326 million (a £37 million increase on last year), £153 million was paid out to shareholders.