Hose Ban Can & Can'ts

              

Above - from left (Click on image to download high res file):

• You CAN use mains-connected hose during a hosepipe ban - but not for watering plants or washing private cars.
• You CAN water the garden with a hose during the ban if you connect it to a Hozelock water butt pump submerged in a run-off water container.
• You CAN use a hose with a pressure washer during a hosepipe ban to clean paths, patios and much else - but not cars.
• You CAN'T use a Waterwise endorsed hose fed drip irrigation system such as this Hozelock Aquapod even though it saves water.(Click on image to download high res file)

Hose Ban Can & Can'ts 

But what does a hosepipe ban really mean?

Thanks to the drought laws, the answer is no. Even under a hosepipe ban there are still lots of permitted hosepipe uses. Of course, you aren’t allowed to water the garden with one, or to wash the car but here are just a few of the things you can do:

• Use a hose or pressure washer to clean paths, patios, boats, windows, garden furniture, barbecues and much else which is neither garden nor car
• Use a hose to fill ponds, paddling pools, swimming pools and other containers
• Use a hose to wash down pets, horses – or with a spray head to take showers outdoors
• Use a hose with a backflow prevention valve to fill livestock drinking troughs
• Use a hose to put out a fire
• Use a hose to mix cement or for any other DIY job
• Use a hose for childrens’ play

So why is it possible to fill a swimming pool but not to water the vegetables that put food on the dinner table?
Well, don’t blame it on the water companies. They can only enforce the law – which dates back almost half a century to a time when pressure washers and much else hadn’t been invented. However, no water supplier should be giving the false impression that all hosepipe uses are prohibited.

The good news is that new legislation was passed in April this year to bring hosepipe bans up to date. It’s the Flood & Water Management Act 2010 and instead of offering just two prohibition options, it lists a number of sensible restrictions that a water company can impose – although it is not obliged to impose any of them.

And in what should be better news for gardeners, it gives water companies new discretionary powers to grant exemptions from hosepipe bans, for example to the elderly or infirm, to certain types of water-saving irrigation equipment such as drip irrigation systems and even to allow night-time watering during a hosepipe restriction.
The new Act includes the following precise wording:

“A water undertaker need not ban a specified use of water entirely. It may limit the scope of a ban by, for example, excluding specified groups of customers and apparatus and restricting the use of water at specified times only.”

If that sounds more like the civilised society that you thought we lived in, don’t get too excited. The new law, which the policy makers and regulators have been working on since the 2006 drought in the south of England, has still not yet been enshrined in industry regulations so United Utilities can’t use it. Instead, they have to fall back on the old legislation.

But for the record, here is the full list of possible prohibitions from the new Act:

• Watering a garden using a hosepipe;
• Cleaning a private motor-vehicle using a hosepipe;
• Watering plants on domestic or other non-commercial premises using a hosepipe;
• Cleaning a private leisure boat using a hosepipe;
• Filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool;
• Drawing water, using a hosepipe, for domestic recreational use;
• Filling or maintaining a domestic pond using a hosepipe;
• Filling or maintaining an ornamental fountain;
• Cleaning walls, or windows, of domestic premises using a hosepipe;
• Cleaning paths or patios using a hosepipe;
• Cleaning other artificial outdoor surfaces using a hosepipe.

A water company seeking to impose a hosepipe ban can elect to prohibit one or more of these specific uses but cannot prohibit any use not on this list. So even if all the options are enforced, there will still be a number of hosepipe uses which cannot be banned.

Britain’s leading supplier of garden watering equipment, Hozelock, says there should never be any need for a complete hosepipe ban. “Modern drip watering systems like the Waterwise-approved Aquapod use 90% less water than a watering can so there can be no rational argument for banning their use,” says Marketing Director Simon McArdle. He went on: “The trouble with such a blunt instrument as the traditional hosepipe ban is that it punishes gardeners who have done the responsible thing by converting to water-saving irrigation equipment.

Over 80% of all the water wasted in the garden comes from uncontrolled sprinklers, according to Hozelock.

“When water is scarce, a sprinkler ban makes sense,” says McArdle, “but other hosepipe restrictions are of questionable environmental value.”

Useful Links

How to save water

Facts & Figures

United Utilities hosepipe ban announcement
http://www.unitedutilities.com/6539.htm

United Utilities supply area map
http://www.unitedutilities.com/Areascovered.htm

The new Flood & Water Management Act 2010

The still-in-force Water Industry Act 1991
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1991/ukpga_19910056_en_9#pt3-ch3-pb3-l1g76 

Defra Water Leakage Key Facts
http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/inlwater/kf/iwkf13.htm

Waterwise approved water-saving products
http://www.waterwise.org.uk/reducing_water_wastage_in_the_uk/house_and_garden/water_saving_devices.html