Hose Pipe Ban!!!! Oh Dear!

[Nosha123]

Can anyone explain to me....
Why is it a hosepipe ban is required..... if the water I flush or wash with.. ends up back in the water 'chain' and comes back out of my tap after filtering and cleaning??????

Surely the water we use - all finds its way back into our water tanks and comes back out of our taps again at some point.. so therefore doesnt run out?

Why must restrictions be imposed?
Where does my waste water go? Into a treatment plant...??? for processing to come back out of my tap???
Surely water cannot vanish.. it always exists in some form whether it be vapour or liquid???

[Old_Geezer]

No expert and I can see what you are saying, but my suspicion is that the cost of cleaning up foul water to make it drinkable again is too great. Easier to deal with it and dump it, and use nature's fresh rainfall as the basis for your new drinking quality water.

[bookbinder]

My guess is that we use water faster than Mother Nature can replenish it, so a hosepipe ban is one way of making us slow down our use. It would give M. Nature a chance to catch up, but that doesn't seem to happening at the moment.

[annie0000]

There is always the same amount of water on the planet, but wher it is at any one time is the problem. At the moment, the reservoirs in Scotland are full and the water table is high - hence my garden is like a swamp - on the other hand, there has been very little rain in some area so the reservoirs are only about 50% full and the summer season of traditionally drier weather is about to begin, hence the concern. The water is required for crop growth and use by animals etc as well as our normal daily tasks - so I think things like flowers and clean cars etc have to take the hit or we will have to import food from elsewhere.

[Nosha123]

hhhm interesting food for thought isnt it... a stat I read earlier today stated Thames Water as the worst offender for leaks.. and they 'lose' the equiv of almost the whole of Lake Windemere EVERY DAY! So it makes me wonder how much I could make a different by turning off the tap whilst brushing my teeth!!! Its a bit like shutting the gate when the horse has already bolted!
I will try to do my bit - but only as I fear I will burn in hell otherwise!!! Not to help Thames Water out!!!!

[annie0000]

lol Nosha, I guess the stuff that leaks out the pipes should make its way back into the water table via the soil and ultimately into the reservoirs whereas the stuff you shove down your pipes either has to go to a re-treatment works or goes out to sea and then we have to wait for it to condense and come back as rain. :o)

If you'd had to deal with my 10 year old crying his heart out because the world is going to end, believe me you'd think turning of the tap and the lights etc was a small pice to pay...

[Mattk]

We need to change the way we deal with water. The same water that is used to flush our toilets also comes out of our drinking taps so a lot of time, effort and expense for something that is simply not necessary.

Apparently 85% of our water usage goes straight down the drain.

[flip_flop]

Just a thought, and no doubt there are myriad reasons why we haven't done this (expense being the driving reason I suspect)......we are an island surrounded by water. Why don't we have desalination plants?

[ChuckFickens]

DO you have any idea of the amount of energy it takes to run a desalination plant?

[annie0000]

I believe cost is right flip flop - we are also in general a very wet island so I guess it should be that necessary on an ongoing basis.

[Nosha123]

so will you all be turning off the taps to conserve water next month then???
I have got a rainwater storage tank I can use to water the garden but when that runs dry I'm a bit buggered....
I just dont see how I can make much of a difference... though I will try.... when so much is being wasted anyway by leaks.

[penelope2]

3.4 billion litres of water (25% of all water used) is lost through leakage, Water companies are not meeting their 'leak' targets yet are still happy to impose restrictions AND increase their prices. There is a desalination unit due to operate in East London this summer producing 150 million litres daily.

[craft1948]

It's grand oop North................

[annie0000]

We shouldn't be wasting water anyway - what use is it to let your taps run just because there are leaks in the pipes!!!

[annie0000]

my garden is sodden, but I still turn the tap off when I brush my teeth!

[Old_Geezer]

I turn the tap off when I shower. Is that any help ?

[annie0000]

lol OG - my son would be proud of you helping to save our planet- though he is working on a scheme to harvest energy from black holes......i'll let you know how he gets on!!