Some people are unbelievable

Well, I think we live in a country that gets a lot of rain (not, say , like Australia). So if the water companies run short of water this is because they have not put in place the infrastructure to collect and manage the water so that it is available for us when we want/need it.

Bear in mind that these water companies now pay dividends to shareholders, and you can see they are making a choice about how much to invest from the water bills we all pay, versus paying out profits to shareholders.

I would prefer they improve the infrastructure and service levels first before paying out profits. So over the long term, I think YABU because that should be their priority. But given that water companies have been getting away with not investing enough to manage, in the short term it would be self-defeating not to try to save water.

In my area there is no hose pipe ban but a representative of the local water authority has said that whilst there isn't a shortage he would prefer people to be sparing with their use of water as a high demand causes a drop in water pressure.

No doubt those using lots of water are the first to complain when the pressure from their showers drops to a trickle!

We haven't watered the front lawn - it has some brown patches and looks a bit sad at the moment but what a waste of water if we did. Some of the more house proud owners have lovely green lawns still - wonder how they are doing that then - hmm

We are watering the plants with washing up water, etc. To avoid over use. What gets me is people don’t realise we will run out of water one day, both India and s Africa are struggling with having enough water to drink. Without water we die. People take it for granted thats the problem.

I think I’ll forgo baths and showers and continue to (carefully) water my veg patch.

I leave a bucket in the shower and it catches quite a bit which can be used for watering. (We don't own a bath.) We also catch the cold water run off before washing up. All adds up! We only ever use a watering can for the garden despite it being quite large. I've never been able to justify using a hose - it seems so wasteful. However, Yorkshire Water doesn't seem to foresee a hosepipe ban - they haven't had one for 22 years.

I'm another one who reckons I use less water for my bath than many use for a shower. All this about collecting water while it comes to temperature is irrelevant to a bath as I put the plug in before turning on the taps, and have a very shallow bath. I think thosd who say a bath uses nore water imagine a bath full to the top. My water is running for far less time than my husband's shower runs.
We are only watering pots and newly planted things in the garden. I will try using washing up water on the garden but does the washing up liquid not harm the plants?

I do think we should be careful with our water use, but since water was privatised, prices are high and service not what it could be.
We are lucky to have plenty of water in this country, but it is badly managed and considerably underinvested, so we have ‘shortages’ after a relatively brief period of dry weather.
I rather wish the water companies would put their customers first on occasion, instead of prioritising profits for shareholders.

The water companies are not invested, yet again, in the populations needs. We have soooo much rain. It should be collected.

We have cut down our water and are not watering our lawn. That sounds a bit virtue-signalling but I think we all have to do our bit. We are not on a meter and we have not been subject to any hosepipe ban or request to use less. However, it just seems the right thing to do in these unusual conditions.

* of, electric, water, evident...sorry
Careless typing.

Thames water has an issue which was noted last midnight (I was in bed) by them. A failure if an ekectric wTer pump to or from one of their reservoirs which was evudent when I had only a sad trickle of water, enough for half a kettle. Oh well!
Rang TW and they told me of the unexpected problem but had no timescale for water to resume pumping.
Said that 2 pallets of water were sent to Tesco in my area but without a car and an hourly bus service that was not much use. It's jolly heavy to carry.
They put me through to another dept who said they would send out one of their reps with a supply of water to my address within 2 hours and ring when they got here.
What a service...fantastic.

This is why the world is in such a bad way
Total selfishness of people these days... and fb and the like have made it worse as everybody thinks they are more important than what they are

A bit of sweat on our skin won't harm us so we could probably manage without extra showers in warm weather.

What is a spotted website? Soulds like a rare butterfly
This thread has certainly highlighted the failure of the water companies - most of which are foreign-owned and answerable to foreign shareholders - to repair leaks promptly. Everyone has a story to tell. And now it seems the treatment plants ditto. Thames Water were fined earlier this year and required to make small refunds to householders over the next 5 years.
I thought that broadly speaking rain water ended up in the reservoirs - no rain in winter = low reservoirs. Doesn’t the same apply in the long run to water from hoses and sprinklers? Obvs if we are supposed to save water we shouldn’t use them, but where am I going wrong?
I remember in 1976 siphoning the bath water down to the garden by means of an old hose. Not keen to go through that caper again.

Also I totally agree with the comment about pressure washers. A German friend told me about their rules of car washing, originally introduced to reduce chemical cleansers going into the sewers its now also about conserving water. You are not allowed to wash your car at home, you have to go to special car cleaning facilities and abide by the regulations. Not a bad idea but I doubt it would catch on here.

I've inherited the methods my Mum and Grandma used....all water used to prepare veggies is used to water pots and plants. Ditto water used for handwash rinses. Plants are best given infrequent drenches rather than little and often waterings. If you do the later it only encourages roots to come to the surface and anyway in this heat a lot of the surface water evaporates before it does any good.

I wonder if these are younger people who don't remember the drought of 1976 and the standpipes in the streets?

I don't think it is unreasonable to be careful with our water use to ensure that we have enough to see us through to the next downpours.
Lawns do not need watering (the young chap across the road is the only one with a beautiful green watered lawn) - if everyone is careful then there should be plenty to water our vegetable plots.

The reservoirs are still full and the water companies have admitted on television (BBC news Saturday morning) that the problem lies with them not being able to treat the water quick enough and the pipes being narrow at the point of supply.

The UK is not a third world country, I am fed up with huge companies failing to do their jobs properly and us the end user suffering as a result.

The hot weather according to the forecasters is due to last approximately 4 weeks. Like having 1" of snow for a couple of days in the winter, it all goes to hell in a handcart. We should be able to cope with this in 2018.

For some people their gardens are their lives. Plants can be expensive to buy. Unless you grow from seeds vegetable seedlings are also not cheap. As long as watering is done responsibly why should they have to watch all their hard work and invested time shrivel and die.

(Just to let you know we have a 3,000 litre rainwater harvest tank sunk beneath our lawn, so at the moment we are still using water from that. We have switched our toilets back over to mains water though)

I think people would be more willing to do their bit and curb their water usage if the water companies would fix the damn leaks! Up the road from me is a significant leak that has been there since last September! Then we're told to conserve water - no wonder people get annoyed!

Like many here I hate to waste water.

We use the bucket tip to catch water from the shower as it's heating up.

I small bowl in all the wash basins to collect waste from hand washing and a bucket in the kitchen for any water used there. I use a Zero hand wash and washing up liquid so all that is added to the water butt.

We don't have a hosepipe ban get. I want to keep my roses and pots going, the lawn is ok at the moment but if it goes brown it will be back.

I remember doing many of these things on a Great Aunts farm as a youngster where I spent most of the summer holidays so the little extra though has the bonus of bringing back some very happy memories.

We also received a text (from United Utilities) regarding conserving water. As a family we are already very careful with what we use (we have water saving gadgets & appliances etc), but something else should be considered here and that is the amount of water used in the fracking process as we have Cuadrilla about to begin fracking at Preston New Road. Once that water has been used for fracking, it's out of the ecosystem as pure water forever. As domestic customers we are being asked to be careful and yet I doubt Cuadrilla will be treated the same. Just my thoughts ...

I am in Thames Water area but, like others have noted where they live, we have had a leak on our hill for several weeks.
In 1976 we were in Guernsey where they were really struggling. A guest in the small hotel where we were staying insisted on his whole family having baths twice a day saying that he had paid to stay there and it was ‘his right’! Everyone else was having quick showers.

Why why?
Why cant this country not cope with heat or a bit of snow. Other countries Im sure don’t have railway lines melting. So to with warter shortage ! It muct be the responsibility of the Water companies! A couple of weeks of summer weather ( and that is all it is) for goodness sake most French towns have free public water taps or fountains! We pay enough and I don’t think the profits are invested sufficiently. So no I don’t think its our responsibility for the supply of water to the country. Hold the water companies to account!!

When the reservoirs are empty, will those wasting water because they have paid for it be able to drink pound notes?