Hosepipe ban? Install a water butt

[robert551069]

I have installed a 60 gallon water butt to collect rainwater from the garage roof.
At the foot there is a tap which I use to fill a watering can.
More work than using a hose, but it keeps the plants looking healthy.

[LoftyLottie]

What we really need is a proper grid system. Expensive initially I know, but for such a small island it is ridiculous that half the country has loads of rain and the other half is in drought conditions.

[jackthehat]

.....and don't think that you can get away with watering the garden at midnight, the hoppy-copters have night-vision cameras on board!!!

Just because it sounds like a conspiracy doesn't mean it ain't true!! :o)

[Booldawg]

I wonder if we can see a reduction in our water bills seeing as we're getting a reduction in service?

[jackthehat]

*conspiracy theory...

[Old_Geezer]

It wouldn't be a replacement Eddie, but a supplement to existing supplies. So any increase, even if the present laughably high rates can't absorb it anyway, has to be marginal.

[EDDIE51]

Desalination is only viable in coastal regions , add in the cost of transporting water inland and you may as well buy bottled water. We are 60 miles from the nearest sea water here. Remember the coast is at sea level ,0bviously, so as the rest of the country is 'uphill' you have to pump water from desalination plants to the rest of the country.

[seadogg]

We have 3 and a gadget to pump water using an old electric drill to drive an impeller pump in the hoseline to cut the work of carrying. Safer than it sounds!

[Old_Geezer]

Uphill is an issue for any grid system. Still, useful that the north gets the lion's share of the water, as my map shows it south as well below it.

[jamesnan]

We have an allotment, with 4 water butts on it, which collect any rain available, but would we be allowed to use a hose to fill the butts from the central tap, which serves all 12 plots?

[Old_Geezer]

Just come across this. http://www.water-tech....net/projects/israel/
Desalination water coming in at about 33p per cubic meter. ("overall water cost – in this case to $0.52/m³") Surely not so far away from our present costs ? I'm unsure how many cubic meters I use in a year but I seem to be due a fair few from the bill I'm sent.

[Old_Geezer]

http://www.ccwater.or...hp?show=ConWebDoc.913

Right, so 33p * oh which figure should we pick, how about 265 ? = £87.45.

Ok, maybe there is necessary investment too, and reasonable profit, but there must be a limit. I think we're all getting ripped off by mainly foreign water company owners. Anyone's rates / meter charge close to £90 ?