On 2010-07-08 14:29:05 +0100, Pam Moore said:

snipped, sorry

I heard an item on the radio about hoepipe bans generally, and what
you CAN do in spite of a ban. I can't remember them all, but you CAN
wash the dog or cat,, and even fill up a swimming pool, plus a few
other ridiculous things.

Pam in Bristol

I would be interested to trace that. Do you happen to recall which
station, programme, time and date?

On 2010-07-07 16:03:28 +0100, "Pete" said:

We are about to have a hosepipe ban throughout the North West. My
immediate reaction was not to worry - we have a 5,000 gallon water tank
filled with rainwater which we hadn't used because the pump system
wasn't working. My other half now says he can get the pump working so
we can use this water via our hosepipes.

However, I have got a vague memory of people not being allowed to use
hosepipes even if they are not connected to the mains water.

Is my memory correct or am I having a senior moment?!!!

Jeanne

Hosepipes per se have never been banned although some water companies
like to give that impression. The law is quite specific and there are
only two hosepipe uses which can be banned - applying mains-drawn water
to a private garden or car. Any other use, eg cleaning patios, drowning
cats, filling swimming pools etc cannot (yet) be prohibited. Nor can
connecting a hosepipe to a water butt.

I found a very explicit summary on the Hozelock website:
http://www.hozelock.com/press/hose-ban-can-can-ts.html

In message , Stan The Man
writes
On 2010-07-08 14:29:05 +0100, Pam Moore said:

snipped, sorry
I heard an item on the radio about hoepipe bans generally, and what
you CAN do in spite of a ban. I can't remember them all, but you CAN
wash the dog or cat,, and even fill up a swimming pool, plus a few
other ridiculous things.
Pam in Bristol

I would be interested to trace that. Do you happen to recall which
station, programme, time and date?

It sound like the bit that was on R4 a few days ago. 'You and Yours' I
think. Probably on Wednesday.

Ah yes here we are, it's chapter 6 down the bottom of the page.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00swrbr#synopsis
--
Chris French

"Cynic" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:30:45 GMT, pete wrote:

It'll be interesting to see if this ban extends to include
irrigation
systems that householders are increasingly installing to do the
watering
for them.

I cannot see how it could be detected that an underground water
system
was being used, so a ban would be unenforceable. I also don't know
whay such systems are not more prevalent. It is cheap and easy to
bury a few perforated pipes under lawns and vegetable/flower beds.
A
few moisture detectors and electric water valves then make the
process
of watering your garden completely automatic.

.... and then the water companies splash out on aeroplanes and
helicopters to look for the green lawns among all the brown and yellow
ones.....

"Stan The Man" wrote in message
...
On 2010-07-07 16:03:28 +0100, "Pete" said:

Hosepipes per se have never been banned although some water companies like
to give that impression. The law is quite specific and there are only two
hosepipe uses which can be banned - applying mains-drawn water to a
private garden or car. Any other use, eg cleaning patios, drowning cats,
filling swimming pools etc cannot (yet) be prohibited. Nor can connecting
a hosepipe to a water butt.

I found a very explicit summary on the Hozelock website:
http://www.hozelock.com/press/hose-ban-can-can-ts.html


My main use for a mains hozepipe is watering stuff in my 800 sq ft
glasshouse - toms, strawberries etc.

I am non- commercial however, so can I carry on ?

Thanks

Regards
Pete

On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 01:44:44 +0100, Stan The Man wrote:

I heard an item on the radio about hoepipe bans generally, and
what
you CAN do in spite of a ban. I can't remember them all, but you
CAN
wash the dog or cat,, and even fill up a swimming pool, plus a few
other ridiculous things.

It's easier to list the things you can't do: use a hosepipe/sprinkler
to water a private garden and use a hosepipe to was a private car.

I would be interested to trace that. Do you happen to recall which
station, programme, time and date?

Might be better digging through the legislation rather that relying
on some journo's interpretation of the Water Industry Acts 1991 and
1999, Water Act 2003 and maybe Water Resources Act 1991 (all as
amended)...

What I find on the web is a consultation period in 2007 which was
aimed at making the legislation less of a mess, I can't quickly find
what the outcome of that consultation was and if the legislation was
changed as a result.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:33:20 +0100, Cynic wrote:

I cannot see how it could be detected that an underground water system
was being used, so a ban would be unenforceable.

Apart from your lawn/veg patch being a verdent green when everything
around has turned brown...

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Pete" wrote in message
...


"Stan The Man" wrote in message
...
On 2010-07-07 16:03:28 +0100, "Pete" said:

Hosepipes per se have never been banned although some water companies
like to give that impression. The law is quite specific and there are
only two hosepipe uses which can be banned - applying mains-drawn water
to a private garden or car. Any other use, eg cleaning patios, drowning
cats, filling swimming pools etc cannot (yet) be prohibited. Nor can
connecting a hosepipe to a water butt.

I found a very explicit summary on the Hozelock website:
http://www.hozelock.com/press/hose-ban-can-can-ts.html


My main use for a mains hozepipe is watering stuff in my 800 sq ft
glasshouse - toms, strawberries etc.

I am non- commercial however, so can I carry on ?

Thanks

Regards
Pete
Corr - 0 escaped ! s.b. 8000 sq ft (:-)

On 7 July, 16:03, "Pete" wrote:
We are about to have a hosepipe ban throughout the North West. My immediate
reaction was not to worry - we have a 5,000 gallon water tank filled with
rainwater which we hadn't used because the pump system wasn't working. My
other half now says he can get the pump working so we can use this water via
our hosepipes.

However, I have got a vague memory of people not being allowed to use
hosepipes even if they are not connected to the mains water.

Is my memory correct or am I having a senior moment?!!!

Jeanne

Hi Jeanne.

I too am in the currently very damp north west !

There was a report on the BBC local news on wednesday night showing a
lady connecting a hosepipe to one of her water butts - this is
permissable, apparently. When you think about it, you're not taking
from the public supply, and thus not reducing what they've got stored
for us all. In fact, people like you should be positively encouraged
at this time, as if more people like us installed water butts/tanks,
it would be less of a strain on the water co's. For once, logic
reigns (or should that be rains ??!!)

Kind regards.

On 2010-07-09 09:35:01 +0100, Roo said:

On 7 July, 16:03, "Pete" wrote:
We are about to have a hosepipe ban throughout the North West. My immediate
reaction was not to worry - we have a 5,000 gallon water tank filled with
rainwater which we hadn't used because the pump system wasn't working. My
other half now says he can get the pump working so we can use this water via
our hosepipes.

However, I have got a vague memory of people not being allowed to use
hosepipes even if they are not connected to the mains water.

Is my memory correct or am I having a senior moment?!!!

Jeanne

Hi Jeanne.

I too am in the currently very damp north west !

There was a report on the BBC local news on wednesday night showing a
lady connecting a hosepipe to one of her water butts - this is
permissable, apparently. When you think about it, you're not taking
from the public supply, and thus not reducing what they've got stored
for us all. In fact, people like you should be positively encouraged
at this time, as if more people like us installed water butts/tanks,
it would be less of a strain on the water co's. For once, logic
reigns (or should that be rains ??!!)

Kind regards.

There is no law which allows them to ban using a hose connected to a
water butt - although I see from United Utilities Twitter page that
they have "requested" someone not to do so.

http://twitter.com/unitedutilities

Some interesting replies from the UU people there - including:

You can still use a mains drawn hosepipe to fill a watering can or a
water butt!

It looks like they are trying to be helpful to gardeners.

On Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:55:06 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

I cannot see how it could be detected that an underground water system
was being used, so a ban would be unenforceable.

Apart from your lawn/veg patch being a verdent green when everything
around has turned brown...

That would be evidence (eventually), but not proof.

--
Cynic

"Cynic" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:55:06 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

I cannot see how it could be detected that an underground water system
was being used, so a ban would be unenforceable.

Apart from your lawn/veg patch being a verdent green when everything
around has turned brown...

That would be evidence (eventually), but not proof.


True - you could have been using a watering can
regardless of any other methods not legally usable.

Regards
Pete
www.thecanalshop.com

On 2010-07-09 11:36:19 +0100, Jake said:

On Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:53:59 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 01:44:44 +0100, Stan The Man wrote:

snipped

What I find on the web is a consultation period in 2007 which was
aimed at making the legislation less of a mess, I can't quickly find
what the outcome of that consultation was and if the legislation was
changed as a result.

I have kept the following posting by someone else in an earlier thread
which may answer your unasked question. Apologies for not crediting
the original poster as I didn't keep the message headers.

Jake

BEGIN QUOTE:
As of April we, in England and Wales at least, have new legislation
called the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 - supposedly to bring
up
to date the archaic rules which in the 2006 drought allowed you to
hose
down your patio but not your family's veg plot.

In theory, the new legislation is more flexible and gives the water
companies a wide range of options but not an infinite list of hosepipe
uses. Each company when threatened by drought can choose one or more
of the following prohibitions:

(a) watering a garden using a hosepipe;
(b) cleaning a private motor-vehicle using a hosepipe;
(c) watering plants on domestic or other non-commercial premises using
a hosepipe;
(d) cleaning a private leisure boat using a hosepipe;
(e) filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool;
(f) drawing water, using a hosepipe, for domestic recreational use;
(g) filling or maintaining a domestic pond using a hosepipe;
(h) filling or maintaining an ornamental fountain;
(i) cleaning walls, or windows, of domestic premises using a hosepipe;
(j) cleaning paths or patios using a hosepipe;
(k) cleaning other artificial outdoor surfaces using a hosepipe.

No other hose uses can be banned, hence filling the hen house watering
trough with a hose is allowed even during a hosepipe ban. Equally,
using a hosepipe to deliver water to an outdoor shower which is used
for personal hygiene can't be banned during a hosepipe ban - so we may
see an increase in the number of outdoor showers positioned close to
the hanging baskets or growbags.

Interestingly, a water company need not ban a specified use of water
entirely. It may now limit the scope of a ban by, for example,
excluding specified groups of customers (eg the elderly and infirm)
and
apparatus (eg drip irrigation systems) and restricting the use of
water
at specified times only (eg during daylight hours).

But will they? The water companies loved the old-style hosepipe bans
because they were easy to monitor and grabbed big headlines which
helped in the propaganda war. United Utilities certainly won't be
using
any of its discretionary powers next week when it introduces a blanket
hosepipe ban (although it has had plenty of time to consider imposing
less draconian restrictions initially).

Perhaps the better managed, more customer-centric water companies will
exercise their discretionary powers. Perhaps too those companies with
a
growing, soon-to-be-100% base of metered customers will think twice
before cutting out all hosepipe uses and thereby hurting their
revenue.

But I fear we may have to wait a long time to see the first
discretionary hosepipe restrictions.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2010...en_4#pt2-l1g36

:END QUOTE

Although this new law was passed in April it isn't yet in force because
it hasn't been enshrined in the water industry regulations. Discussions
are ongoing between the Environment Agency, water industry and other
interested parties to update the regulations but the earliest this
could happen is October, according to my sources. Until then, we and
the water companies are still bound by the old law which bans only two
uses of a mains-fed hose, ie for watering private gardens and washing
private cars. Any other use can't currently be banned.

"Stan The Man" wrote in message
...
On 2010-07-09 09:35:01 +0100, Roo said:

There is no law which allows them to ban using a hose connected to a water
butt - although I see from United Utilities Twitter page that they have
"requested" someone not to do so.

http://twitter.com/unitedutilities

Some interesting replies from the UU people there - including:

You can still use a mains drawn hosepipe to fill a watering can or a water
butt!

It looks like they are trying to be helpful to gardeners.


True and to the geriatric section !

I have just checked on --

http://www.unitedutilities.com/Hosepipeban.htm

and discovered that disabled and blue badge holders are exempt from the ban.

A fair proportion of the group -- including me (:-)

I will still abide by most of the spirit of the thing, by not watering
lawns flowerbeds etc. as I would urge fellow nackards to do as well.

Regards
Pete
www.thecanalshop.com

On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 08:30:06 +0100, chris French
wrote:

In message , Stan The Man
writes
On 2010-07-08 14:29:05 +0100, Pam Moore said:

snipped, sorry
I heard an item on the radio about hoepipe bans generally, and what
you CAN do in spite of a ban. I can't remember them all, but you CAN
wash the dog or cat,, and even fill up a swimming pool, plus a few
other ridiculous things.
Pam in Bristol

I would be interested to trace that. Do you happen to recall which
station, programme, time and date?

It sound like the bit that was on R4 a few days ago. 'You and Yours' I
think. Probably on Wednesday.

Ah yes here we are, it's chapter 6 down the bottom of the page.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00swrbr#synopsis

Yes, before I read your post I thought "probably You & Yours".
I've listened to it, and that was the bit I heard.
I think the laws need changing about refilling private swimming pools
and hot tubs, and using a pressure washer on a patio. Ponds might
need refilling to preserve the fish etc.

Pam in Bristol