In article m, VX
wrote:

I've now seen this said on TV twice. On Gardener's World, they drew attention
to their underground irrigation hose and said "Of course we can't use that
now" although they collect grey water in a VERY large underground water butt.
And tonight on C4 News in a drought-gardening interview with Kim Wilde, again
attention was drawn to an irrigation hose and again "Of course we can't use
that now". But why not- if it's used only for grey water or rainwater?

What I'd like to find out is whether or not it is legal in any given area to
use hosepipe to water using rainwater or grey water. If we can be taken to
court and fined, then there must be a specific law stating what we can and
cannot do in such circumstances. It can't be so vague as to ban all watering
using hosepipe regardless of the source of the water- surely.....

If anyone can point the way to finding this out I'd be very grateful.

The Temporary Hosepipe Ban provisions of the Water Industry Act 1991
specify only that the use of a hosepipe connected to the mains supply
can be restricted. It is perfectly legal to connect a hosepipe to any
reservoir such as a water butt -- but you won't get much flow unless
you also use an underwater pump such as this:
http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/s.nl/sc....A/id.16880/.f

However, despite their water-efficiency, you can't currently use drip
irrigation systems connected to a hosepipe which is connected to the
mains supply. But I'm hearing rumours that the water companies may be
coming to their senses and bowing to pressure to exempt such systems
from their current hosepipe restrictions.

Tonight's Ch4 "news" programme on the water shortage was nothing more
than a PR video for the water companies. It was very short on facts and
demonstrated laughably superficial research.