someone here wrote:
[...]
IANAL and IMBW but
isn't a hosepipe ban actually a ban on the use of hosepipes!
stay with me here...
not a restriction on the use of water.

So you can water the garden, you can wash the car etc etc
but not with a hosepipe.

So how are you going to syphon the water without using a hosepipe?

In the highly unlikely event that you meant to be taken seriously, you
may find that the water companies could conceivably have thought of that
too! They probably don't want to waste time hassling people who use
hosepipes to mark out new flower-beds, either. So maybe, just maybe,
they would word any ban appropriately.

--
Mike.