Please note, before anyone shoots me down, I do not use the hose pipe on the allotment...!
But, I did a little experiment the other day and I counted how long it takes to fill my watering can (3 mins approx) using the hose pipe. Using this timing I would have to water each of my double beds for 6 mins using the hose to account for the 2 watering cans of water I currently give them. I do not believe that I would actually stand at each bed for 6 minutes so I reckon that I actually use more water using watering cans from the mains filled butts.
Anyone have any similar thoughts.
On a similar train of thought, the restrictins on using a hose pipe in my garden does annoy me some what. Like most of you, our gardens have been established over many years with the cost running in to hundreds of pounds, maybe even thousands and I do not want to see all that hard earned cash and time thrown away. Whilst I apprciate that we all need to do our bit to conserve water, for those of us who do not have water meters, we see no reduction in our water rates so why should I reduce my average consumption. Especially when Thames Water is losing thousands of galons every day in leakages. Rest assured I am reducing my consumption and have water butts cropping up in my garden and over the allotment everywhere, but as I a say do feel a little peeved at this...! As you can probably tell by now.
RANT OVER.... >:(
1. how often do you water with the watering can vs with the hose pipe? i.e. last year when using the hose, did you water every day? twice weekly? how often do you now water with the cans?
i water little anyways but my allotment neighbours are only watering once or twice a week now - giving a good soaking with the can. rather than every evening for a sprinkle. i think the plants do better with a soak now and then than with constant light sprinkling.
2. just because you do not have a meter and hence see no immediate personal benefit, shouldn't mean that water habits remain unchanged. i am pleased to hear that you are doing all sorts of things to conserve water - so are we. however, i would never say 'sod it, i'll waste water because so is the utility company' = this is a very irresponsible attitude.
the fact that thames water looses a lot of water in the ground due to leaks is not only to be explained with too little investment, but also the oldest water pipe system in the world and the sheer size of it. it does take time to replace all this - though i do agree they should up their investment pronto.
anyways, i believe in everyone doing their little bit - less egoism and more compassion is needed in this world :)
Thames water lose 894million litres of water a day according to ofwat.I know i shall be criticised here but if im honest i havent been using less water except not using the hosepipe for washing the car and my garden and even then i have given it the odd water with a hosepipe after dark.With the massive profits and the fact that Thames water are now using a helicopter to spot people using hosepipes i simply refuse to cut back.Yes it is deeply irresponsible but there profits keep going up and so does my bill yet we are supposed to use less water!!
Its not as if we live in a country with very little rainfall.
Switching to a water meter and therefore paying for what we use as a family of four actually halved our water bill. Don't knock it before you've tried it.
I definitely think I use far more water with the cans. ::)
I've just done some tests with a flow meter on our allotment circuits. They vary between 550lt/hr and nearly a cubic metre an hour depending on which avenue and whether I had a spray or an unrestricted hose. One of our gardeners uses 225 lt a day to water 68 tomato plants. I use 35lt a day for 24 plants using a can.
Quote from: silly billy on July 30, 2006, 22:26:34
Its not as if we live in a country with very little rainfall.
actually, we are
despite popular belief, we have less rain than a lot of europe that we think of as much drier than us.
Italy, for instance.
compare average rainfall for Uk southeast (615mm per annum) with rome (792.9mm pr annum), for instance.
Source: worldclimate.com
"Its not as if we live in a country with very little rainfall" (sorry -- don't know how to do the clever quote box thing)
We also have a greater population density than most countries in Europe.
Quote from: Jill on July 30, 2006, 23:23:30
Switching to a water meter and therefore paying for what we use as a family of four actually halved our water bill. Don't knock it before you've tried it.
Yes, now I've finally got a water meter, I have become much more careful at the 'tail-ends' of running the tap, washing veg etc. Surprising, as my previous house was metered and I wasn't so conscious, but that's how I knew my water bill would be halved if not more. Now I'm being careful I feel in a stronger position to be critical of corporate waste ::)
I did an experiment putting the hose pipe into the watering can to water in the g'house. The hose pipe won - it used more water and the can kept overflowing.
One thing that occurs to me is that there is some flawed logic ;
1) "By installing a water meter you will be paying less", if everyone had one fitted, we will all be paying less and the revenues will go down for the water companies
2) the unit rate will go up because they will still need to invest and make profit.
3) Once the unit rate has gone up, people will cut down on use of water to cut their bills
4) the revenue will go down again,
5) go back to 2)
or am I missing some basic business points here ?
Well Trevor you have a point, but you can also look at this the other way around. If people, at least in the drought ridden south east ,don't cut down on their usage, and the Government go ahead with building 100,000 extra homes at Ashford, then the water companies won't have much water to flog to us and the price will inevitably go up anyway. For us consumers it's a no win situation.
what the water companies are saying is that whatever the unit price of water will be in the future, those on the meters will pay for what they use - whereas those without meters will pay really high estimates. they will do this to encourage everyone to have a meter installed so everyone can be responsible for their own use and hence their own bill.
it works the same for gas and electricity, trevor - doesn't it???
QuotePlease note, before anyone shoots me down, I do not use the hose pipe on the allotment
Why not?
Why not?
[/quote]
Hosepipe ban??
if we have a hosepipe ban here i dont know how we are going to wash the mother in law :)
QuoteHosepipe ban??
Yes, we too have a hosepipe ban at the moment but it is a domestic ban & does not include allotments, have you checked yours?
yes, we have. thames water does not permit the watering of allotments, specifically mentions this on their website/documentation.
bugger
Mr Plasma, you made I laugh ;D ;D ;D Luckily, since we've had a hosepipe ban since seems like forever, the MIL lives 250 miles away so we don't have the responsibility of hosing her down! And hubby's sister and brother live closer...
lol@plasma ;D
Twenty-five years ago we had just got our first house and installed a bidet (very racy for the time). My Nanna came to visit (dad's mum) and goggled at it, then broke into a broad smile and said "I can swill me feet in that!"
just to make a point about the lack of water, i have a rainfall measure on the allotment, been taking readings all summer.
i can now reveal *drumroll*
our total july rainfall was 17.5mm. that's right, 17.5mm
by rights and averages, we should have had 59.6mm (london average). that's only 30% of the rain we should have received.
still, we soldier on without watering much at all. been out today to put more cardboard down on the exposed bits of soil, to keep the cracks in the soil from reaching australia
My mum had quite a long and hard fight to get a water meter installed in her flat.
Northumbrian water weren't too keen on fitting one but she persevered since she knows her water bills will be low............makes sense to me since she actually lives in Cyprus and is only here for around 12 weeks a year!
I'd be more than willing to have a water meter fitted.
with regards Water Meters, there are 5 of us in our house, and we have a 180ft garden which is very well stocked. One bathroom and one ensuite. Any one have similar and can tell me what the average bill is for having a meter. I am more than happy to have one as long as it is a cost benefit for me...
Hey crusher, a few minutes here will give you a feel for whether it's going to be worthwhile:
http://www.uswitch.com/Water/Switching-Guide.html
:)
I think we are just a scapegoat for the big water companies . My water supplier is Seven Trent and they are the worst culprits for 'Wasting Water'. The number of pipe bursts/leakages that they leave for months on end is Scary.
There water wastage is far worse than any average family who are forced to foot the bill.
Quote from: Svea on August 06, 2006, 21:27:20
just to make a point about the lack of water, i have a rainfall measure on the allotment, been taking readings all summer.
i can now reveal *drumroll*
our total july rainfall was 17.5mm. that's right, 17.5mm
by rights and averages, we should have had 59.6mm (london average). that's only 30% of the rain we should have received.
I have one of those too. Neat little things. I've kept a graphical measure since spring, and we've actually not done too badly in the Chilterns in July (137%), though June was dismal (9%). May was 129%.
(http://www.moonbells.com/allotment/2006/rain06/Rainfall06.jpg)
moonbells
Did you get one of those thunderstorms that did such a good job of missing us?
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on August 07, 2006, 14:22:27
Did you get one of those thunderstorms that did such a good job of missing us?
Oh yes! 28mm in half an hour... not counting the drops which splashed out of the gauge... was pretty impressive (local flash flooding too, and 2' of water in some streets). Briefly we got the river back! Following day we got another (shorter) one with hail and another 10mm rain, then another 4.5mm later on in the evening.
I dug some spuds between the last two and the soil was wet to 8". I was impressed. Haven't been to water since!
moonbells
tried out the USWITCH site and basically being totally honest with my current water consumption I am better off not having a water meter....!
I was a bit puzzled by the 'don't use a hosepipe on my allotment' comment too as we are in Three Valleys and they do allow hosepipes on allotments. I had wrongly assumed that all the water companies with a hosepipe ban (as opposed to a drought order) allowed hosepipes on alloments.
We've got no hosepipe ban as far as the water company are concerned, but the council are threatening to evict anyone caught using a hosepipe to water their allotment. Crazy!
moonbells, not sure how much good it does if you receive your 130% of rain all in one go :/
i have only been able to take readings since the beginning of july, when i got the measure.
i read them once a day, in the evening. and then empty them if there was anything.
this morning, another 1 mm was had *sigh* i guess we should be grateful for every little bit.....
Svea - yes, that did bother me, but we only got half that in one go ::) and when I went up after the first two deluges, the soil was wet down to potato depth so it definitely went in.
Soil here is very freely draining and chalky and stony; turns to dust in summer. So it does tend to soak up rain very quickly rather than run off.
I am optimistic!
Gentle drizzle as I left for work so here's hoping it keeps it up all day.
moonbells
<< We've got no hosepipe ban as far as the water company are concerned, but the council are threatening to evict anyone caught using a hosepipe to water their allotment. Crazy! >>
That's a bit scary. I've mentioned elsewhere that I use a hosepipe syphon from water tank down to my plot. No-one has commented on it yet (field usually empty) but I do somehow feel awkward as I use it. Even though Southern Water specifically say on their site that hosepipes are allowed on allotments.