not allowed/banned hoses at our site upminster essex possibly nationwide

[caroline7758]

No water on our site, just whatever water butts each person sets up on their own plot. Never seen anyone using hoses from butts- just watering cans. Hard work in a hot summer but hasn't been too bad this year!

[Kea]

I'd like to see your system work on our site...after all it relies heavily on something we don't get.....Rain!

It does work in the veg plots that I work on in dry areas, in fact some of the best water capture designs came from school kids themselves. Unless you live in the dessert, it does rain and you need to be devious in how you capture it during the winter so that you can use it in the summer. It does rain in Cambs, I know as used to live there. Throwing your hands up and saying 'it'll never work here' is just defeatist.

Yes it does rain in Cambs...we often see it going past in the distance!!!

[aj]

Yes it does rain in Cambs...we often see it going past in the distance!!!

I know it rains in Cambs as I used to live in Huntingdon. 

[Kea]

That is far enough away for it to miss us...was raining today in Hilton but not ST Ives. My water butt still has not even filled this year.

[willsy]

I think! but cannot be sure that our water payment used to be incorporated in with our allotment bill. New for this year £12 water bill seperate, plus allotment rent fee. Posted in another heading about the rises. I hope and pray the council dont ban us using water pipes as I am not able to carry watering cans, I get pains in my chest with the weigh of it. I do have lots of water butts though and if it happened then I think I would have to work a way out to run hosepipe from butt for watering.

[gavinjconway]

Slightly off the main subject of the thread but worth putting it on here..

Sometime in the late Nineties Zimbabwe had a massive drought. Like 10% of a normal season of rain for a few years. We had very strict water rationing imposed. If you had no private borehole water we were restricted to 20 cubic meters per month with heavy fines for overuse and hosepipe bans. But the wording had a loophole as it said no watering of gardens with a hosepipe... only cans and buckets allowed.

We were at a business park and there was a chap watering his business flowerbeds and lawn with a watering can with a rose fitted.... The funny thing was that he had a hosepipe in the can filling it whilst he was watering - great thinking that man..    We spoke to him and he said he confirmed with the local council and it was legal.. So much for enforcement!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've known people do the same on our site. It's perfectly legal as the only thing that's banned is watering directly with a hose.

[Squash64]

The allotments department at Birmingham council is facing a massive bill for water.  Surely we should be cutting down on the amount of water we use, rather than thinking of ways to get around the ban on hoses?

[Lottiman]

Very good point squash we should all be thinking about how much water we use and I think on the whole most of us do. Weather your site permits hoses or if it is water by can only as ours is there will always be somebody who just wastes water ::)Ive witnessed twenty or so cans of water being poured on a small raised bed ( must be growing rice) I was always taught that you need to encourage roots to search for water but i suppose you cant tell some people

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you only have a ban on hoses, what do you expect people to do? You can't, for instance, instal a water butt if you don't know where to get one. We've now got Birmingham City Council to promise to circulate details of local sources. It's a step in the right direction, but unless people are taught how to set up trickle systems, which are the most economical on water, and pointed towards affordable sources of the equipment, nothing much is going to change. If they just wave threats about, and do nothing positive, I don't think anyone can complain much if people look for ways round their rules.

[manicscousers]

We got 50 wheelie bins from our recycling centre, Robert. A few have to be used as storage as they have splits in but the rest are being used as water butts, no chance of anything like that, ?

[Robert_Brenchley]

That might be one answer. I was at the allotments conference not long ago, and some of us asked the Council to circulate contact details for suppliers; they've promised to do it in the next newsletter.