One basic question

Have the RHS got it right?
I am particularly interested in the greenhouse, as I have young plants and
they will need regular light watering (during the day when I'm at work) so
I have installed an automatic mist system. According to the RHS I can use
this are they right?

Please see full details below.







http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0406/hosepipes.asp


"Hosepipe restrictions

The following water companies have enforced hosepipe restrictions (as of 23
March 2006)

* Cholderton & District Water (hosepipe ban)
* Mid-Kent Water (hosepipe ban) *
* Sutton and East Surrey (ban on sprinklers and unattended hose use) *
* Southern Water (hosepipe bans in Sussex and Kent) *
* South East Water (hosepipe bans in East and West Sussex and West Kent)
* Thames Water (hosepipe and sprinklers ban - comes into force on 3
April 2006)
* Three Valleys (hosepipe ban)

* The following companies are seeking to enforce a drought order; a drought
order prohibits the use of ANY hosepipe.

A hosepipe ban, as defined in the Water Industry Act (para 76.), does not
prohibit all uses of garden hoses - including cleaning, hosing down pets and
livestock, filling fish ponds, drinking troughs, bird baths and other
unplanted containers, washing trade vehicles, garden furniture, garages and
greenhouses and even garden showers; although careful use should be made to
minimise wastage. Bans only apply to watering of private gardens and washing
of private cars.

It would seem that gardeners and the horticultural industry are being made
to 'carry the can' for the low winter rainfall and the 3,608 megalitres (793
million gallons) of water lost every day through leaks and breakages in the
water companies' pipe network - enough to supply the daily needs of 8.8m
households (38% of the UK population).
Sensible watering"



Water Industry Act (para 76.) from link on the rhs site.



76.-(1) If a water undertaker is of the opinion that a serious deficiency
of water available for distribution by that undertaker exists or is
threatened, that undertaker may, for such period as it thinks necessary,
prohibit or restrict, as respects the whole or any part of its area, the use
for the purpose of-

(a) watering private gardens; or

(b) washing private motor cars,

of any water supplied by that undertaker and drawn through a hosepipe or
similar apparatus.

(2) A water undertaker imposing a prohibition or restriction under this
section shall, before it comes into force, give public notice of it, and of
the date on which it will come into force, in two or more newspapers
circulating in the locality affected by the prohibition or restriction.

(3) Any person who, at a time when a prohibition or restriction under
this section is in force, contravenes its provisions shall be guilty of an
offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 3
on the standard scale.

(4) Where a prohibition or restriction is imposed by a water undertaker
under this section, charges made by the undertaker for the use of a hosepipe
or similar apparatus shall be subject to a reasonable reduction and, in the
case of a charge paid in advance, the undertaker shall make any necessary
repayment or adjustment.

(5) In this section "private motor car" means any mechanically
propelled vehicle intended or adapted for use on roads other than-

(a) a public service vehicle, within the meaning of the [1