drought alert!

Yes, lots about the drought on the news.
Everyone fill up their water butts ...

Yes Fran, our local newspaper had a writeup in last Fridays paper from Anglian Water about how low Rutland water is this year, I cannot remember the last time we had a hosepipe ban in my area although we had to be careful in 1976 so its looming on the horizon for us as well...

that's what I get for not listening to the news on the radio ... shee, if the water companies fixed their leaks rather than investing in enterprises that have nothing to do with their core activity, there'd be a bit more to go round

and i always turn off the tap when I'm brushing my teeth - and always wash with a full load in the machine (sometimes too full) and lol if i only shower once a week ...

Yes lots on the news about this.. our water butts will be overflowing the way it has been here lately..

and all this snow was just allowed to vanish into thin air?! lol probably the wrong kind of snow, and falling in the wrong areas - but it's nto as if we didn't have even a little bit of snow in the south

I`ve been asking my hubby to put guttering around my bottom sheds, guess its a must now, mind you he`s not a gardener so he`ll say theres plenty of time when the weather is warmer, mind you if I threaten to use all his tools it just might work...

lol LL. I even looked at mini-guttering with the idea of fixing it around my garden tables and leading the runoff into a small (low) water butt, or - I have a plastic shet on them that hangs over the backs to shed water, if I could put the lower edge in or over a non-waking plant trough or something that'd hold it. of course, then the prob is to reach the trough and get the water out.

I did want to roof part of my space, to give me a dry working area, but I've been told that needs planning permission. sigh, I should have taken a chance, I'd probably have got away with it! Just a transparent tarpaulin strung betwen wall and fence, and the lower edge leading to downpipes and water butts. sigh, 'twas not meant to be.

My friends in Surrey always say that you can tell when a hosepipe ban is in place when you hear the tut-tut of hose pipes at night! Am guessing the water meters you have down there are supposed to suppress such behavior but as you say, it does not help that there is so much leakage by the companies themselves.

You may be able to drill down to ground water - there was a time when most properties with a garden all had wells to get water. Have a look on http://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html to see if there used to be a spring or the like near you (there used to be a water source near my house, which is why I there are loads of SUDS ponds near me)

I wrote about this 'drought' on the 2nd Dec.in a blog, as there was an article saying that we would have a hose pipe ban in the new year! Well it looks as if this has become true! Sounds pretty serious! I have been putting any remnants of water from the kitchen outside into my watering cans by the back door and have been doing this for a while now, 'any little helps' ! :~)

We reached the stage last year whereby I was using bathwater to help out, our rains came the same week as we were told by the water company that they had issued a drought alert, it hasn`t as yet worked for this year apart from a few spots today and I only noticed then because I was cleaning my windows...

I've been saving my milk bottle rinsings for my house plants and the babies in the greenhouse - read this tip years ago, it's supposed to help feed them, and been doing it for years, not killed too many yet. I'd do more but the prob is saving it; the water, having a bit of milk in it, tends to smell rather un-fragrant after a while; and leaving small bottles outside with their caps off is asking for htem to get knocked over. I did check out the idea of buying a camping or caravan water container, but I'd need to be able to lift them when full, unless they come with taps and i can prop them up.

I was rather amazed that the council does discounted compsters (got mine for £5) and discoutned owrmeries, but not discounted water butts, when that's the most valuable and easiest-to-recycle resource there is.- water butts should be included in new builds, and discountes should be offered to council and soicah housing tenants.

I'd get one anyway (found someone on eBay who recycles the jars olives are imported in) but there's no external downpipes anywhere on this block; no idea where the rain actually goes!

One advantange of a tiny garden is that it's actually qucker to water by can than by hose, and less hassle - i cannot get the damn fitting on to the tap without it spraying sideways. the hose is just better at fine-misting the air rahter than watering directly.

Surface water is getting higher in London, I've read, since a lot of industries that used water have moved out, breweries for one. they have to pump so much underground water out to keep us from being swamped - I dunno why they don't use that for flushing toilets and free-up that water.

When they were digging in Mile End park they found a spring; apparently drinkable quality; dunno what htey did with it, probably piped it away to the sewers!

In 76, Lincs, I had a pipe hanging out the bathroom window to drain the bath water out into a paddling pool, I then used it to water any plants that needed it. That was the year they said 'bath with a friend', I have never forgotten that phrase, we thought it was so funny back then. Lol

E.bay is brill isnt it Fran? I got my composter for £5 from the council and they did offer waterbutts too but at a cost. I agree about water butts being put into new builds, my daughter has had an extension done on their little house and they have put a special tank in so she can recycle her wash machine water, so thats a good move isnt it?

that's on eprob with showers, although they do solve a prob by using less water in the first place. in my old flat, i tried to water the plants with buckets dipped in the bath, but they didn't take to it. at least i was able to wash my bit of the balcony and save that much tap water.

The amount of water washing machines spit out is ratehr alaraming; for years i was looking for a twin tub, then one chose when to change the water (but if the clothes came out dirtier than when they went in, it was clearly past time to change it!). I use only the "mini" wash, 30 minutes, as taht uses least water; the "standard" wash takes nearly three hours and uses over 150 litres.

i was ogint to say sometheing else but it's gone completely - looks like bedtime is getting closer much faster than anticipated!

Lol. go to bed now and rest!

think i will, gone ten now, so should sleep till dawn's rosy fingers etc

ps night!

Nite nite.

Thats right Grandmage and a brick in the cystern, we did that here, our kitchen and bathroom are in the front so It wasn`t a pretty sight but when needs must and all that, lol..

there was a thing called "hungry hippo" or something like that; a small strong plastic box - idea was to fill it with water and put that in the tank instead of a brick - or half a brick, depending how much it was filled.

I ca'nt rememebr if it was free from the council or a newspaper.