Drought Order Hosepipe Ban

Hosepipe Bans
In recent years there have been hosepipe bans in the areas served by a number of water companies, covering substantial parts of the South East of England. A hosepipe ban means you may not use a hosepipe to wash a car or water your garden. However you can use a short length of hose to fill buckets and watering cans to enable you to wash cars or water gardens. You can still use a hosepipe to fill fishponds, swimming pools and for commercial use. Thames Water issued warnings to over many hundreds of householders for illegal use of hoses.

Drought Orders
Drought orders are much more severe than hosepipe bans and ban all non-essential uses of water. This could include car washes, window cleaners, watering golf courses and filling spas and swimming pools. Check out with the water supply company for your area what activities are banned under the order. Thames Water have announced that they will not be applying for a drought order at the present time but will monitor the situation.

Why is there a Drought Problem?
Recent years have seen much lower than average amounts of rainfall. Although there have been few prolonged periods with no rain, what rain there has been has been much less in total. This particularly has effected the South East of England. Although there are many areas of Europe with far lower rainfall, the demand for water is also much lower due to lower population density.

Save Water
Consumers are being encouraged to find ways of saving water. Mending leaking taps, use of water barrels for rainwater, use of showers rather than baths and recycling water are all being encouraged.

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