Please note that the answers to these questions are for guidance only. Always clarify things with your local water company as rules do differ from company to company and year to year.
- What’s a hosepipe?
- Which areas currently have a hosepipe ban in place?
- What’s an aquifer?
- If there’s a hosepipe ban, can you water your garden with a watering can?
- Are allotments exempt from hosepipe bans?
- How are commercial gardeners affected by a hosepipe ban?
- What is restricted during the 2012 hosepipe bans?
- Disabled and over 65s exemptions
- Animals And The Hosepipe Ban
Got a question? Please email info@hosepipeban.org.uk and we’ll try to answer it.
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can patios be jet sprayed clean from foxes mess or is this included with the ban
You can use a hosepipe for health and safety reasons so if you’re happy this is a health and safety issue you may use it.
What should you do if your neighbour is washing their car with a hose? ?
ignore it does it really matter, is it worth the hassle of reporting, i would say there are more important things in life than a neighbour using a hosepipe
Has the ban been lifted yet?
No.
Can I use my hose to mix cement in the garden.
Yes.
how can i report someone for using there hosepipe
Contact your local water company if you wish to report someone.
get a life
can our pool company maintain our pool and top up if necessary
The topping up of swimming pools isn’t allowed.
Can i use drip irrigation & soaker hoses from the outside mains tap
Yes as long as they meet the criteria given by your local water company.
I am just laying new turf in a garden, are you allowed to water it??
With a hosepipe: Only if you’re a professional gardener and only for 28 days. Otherwise it can be watered with a watering can.
Thank you, does this still apply if we as professionals lay it, but it will be the clients that end up watering most evenings? Can they still use a hosepipe
Yes, as long as laid by professionals, your client is then allowed to water with a hosepipe/sprinkler for 28 days.
can I fill water butts (2) using a hosepipe if they are empty before more rain fills them? It is for garden use only , veggies and flowers.
No you can’t fill water butts (or any container) with a hosepipe connected to mains water.
My dog has bad diarrhea can i use the hose to wash the path and grass down, so my children dont get ill from playing in garden
Yes you can do that as it’s a health and safety issue.
It gets quite dusty at the industrial estate where I work and my employers have told me to damp down the area using a water bowser/sprinkler system. It’s home made and pulled along by a tow vehicle and will use approx. 500 litres water per fill. It will be filled by our on-site water supply from the tap.
Personally, I think it’s a waste of water as the area dries out after 2-3 hours, but, during these drought conditions is damping down nuisance dust illegal?
Legally it’s not a problem as it’s on commercial property which is exempt.
My neighbour has just had their garden landscaped and new turf laid. This has been watered for the past five days (not continiously) with a sprinkler attached to a hosepipe.
After looking at Southern Waters website it appears that all that will happen if someone is reported is they will receive a letter saying “don’t do it again”. Is there any point in reporting them?
They’ve got a total of 28 days in which they can water it like that.
Does the hosepipe ban mean councils have to shut off council run kids splash parks (i.e. the kinds where water squirts out the ground and the kids run around)?
Hi,
Can i clean my company car? i’m sure i read i couldn’t under local restrictions, but reading it now it clearly states private vehicles?
Also i am moving house next week from a rented place, I have to leave the property as clean as possible in order to get my deposit back. Can i use a pressure washer to clean?
thanks
chris
Cleaning the company car is fine. You can’t clean property with a pressure washer unless it’s for health and safety reasons for instance a slippery surface.
I am the gardener at a small hotel and we rely on weddings throughout the summer months as our main business , can we use a hosepipe to water our trees and shrubs which form backdrops for wedding photographs.
Yes you can as it’s commercial property.
how do funfair operators get around filling there huge pools for ” water walking”
Commercial enterprises are exempt from the bans in most cases.
I have just had a wall built in Herts. I need to use a jet spay to clear excess cement of the tiles and spay clean a shared car park area where cement has covered the area is this allowed with a pressure washer?
Yes you can do that with a pressure washer.
Can I use my children’s dirty bath water to fill my water butt using a piece of hose pipe?
Yes that’s OK.
If I have a water butt, that in addition to being filled with rain water, is also filled with used bath/shower water but not, I repeat, NOT filled from the mains. Can I use a pressure washer that draws water from the water butt, ie, NOT connected to the mains tap, but rather, is connected to the water butt.
As this is not connected to mains water, is this allowed and if not, why not?
Yes that’s perfectly acceptable.
Why are commercial premises excluded? Surely they use the most water?