In article , michael adams
wrote:

"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:
"Chris Bacon" wrote...
Water companies do not make the law.

Nope.

So long as they don't exceed the powers granted to them by the
privatisiation
legislation, they're as allowed to be as selective as they wish, in
which
particular
provisions they choose to enact.

As far as I know the only things that are banned are washing the
car with a hosepipe, and watering the garden. If you've a pointer
to a legal resource that says different, I'd like to read it, for
interest.


Right now under the 1999 legistlation Water Companies can apply to
introduce compulsory water metering to restrict demand. And at least
one - Dover if not more, has already done so. If things got really bad
Water Companies are empowered to cut off domestic supplies altogether
and install stand pipes. If there was any evidence that the use of
hosepipes for supposedly innocent use was being abused, there's no doubt
whatsover that the use of all hosepipes would be banned forthwith.
And that such an eventuality was anticipated in the legislation,
by a catch-all clause if nowhere else.

The water companies have no power at all to ban all uses of domestic
hosepipes. They do have the power to make exemptions from the
proscribed prohibitions but they don't have the power to add new
prohibitions even in an emergency.

If they need to save more water they _must_ apply for a drought order
to ban so-called non-essential uses which include window washing,
irrigation of parks and sportsgrounds, filling ornamental ponds, etc.
This process takes some weeks - the Secretary of State has to agree and
there has to be a public enquiry. Three water companies applied for
such a drought order a month or so ago but none has yet been granted or
implemented. The next and final step thereafter would be to apply for
an Emergency Drought Order which does give the water compnaies blanket
powers to prohibit any use of water they want - and to make people
queue up at standpipes to collect their water by the bucketfull.

To put things in perspective, the outside tap uses 4% annually of all
water supplied to households. Loo flushing uses 35%. Dishwashers,
washing machines and power showers waste far more water than is ever
put on the garden via a hosepipe.

But the water companies don't have the power - except under an
Emergency Drought Order - to ban uses of water inside the home. That's
because it is classified as essential domestic use and it is their
statutory obligation to supply it, even if most householders waste
gallons of the stuff every day.

Because the outside tap is not classified as 'domestic use' it is a
soft target - indeed the only target for the water companies. But it
isn't an effective one. Hosepipe bans don't save much water. Research
by some of the water companies during the last drought showed that many
households' water consumption _increased_ after a hosepipe ban.