With a ban on hosepipes on the way, how will effect you?

Having been on a water meter for four years, I couldn't afford to use a hosepipe.

It won't. I live in a flat and a hose wouldn't stretch down to the car.

If my electricity supplier annoys me, I can switch who supplies it without changing any equipment or the infrastructure. I don't know how that works but I wonder if it could be done with water?

The electricity suppliers all use the same infrastructure - paying rental to whoever owns the bits they use to get their electricity to you. And they all buy electricity from generating companies to supply to you. In effect they are just the middle men doing sod all apart from collecting a profit from your payments. Of course most also generate electricity and/or manage the infrastructure in particular areas.

To allow the various water companies to do the same they would have to build a national grid for water (a lot more difficult to move around than electricity). Of course, if they did have such a grid Thames could just buy in more water from Scottish Water and we wouldn't need a hosepipe ban.

I should imagine my water bill will fall??!!

It will ruin my life.
That's how I clean my car.

Clearly the water shortage isn't that desperate, or it would have a water ban now rather than in 2 months.
What makes me laugh is you can still use as much water as you like, just not from a hosepipe...but you can use a hosepipe to fill a bucket up. Which makes no sense.

To be honest I will still probably use it. I only use it to rinse my car before and after washing. And the water which I don't use clearly goes back into the drainage system where it is recycled and used to grow ethnic peace flowers.

I imagine people in Africa, or Uganda, or Taiwan, crying.... when you ask them why? "Some people in England can not water their daffodils."

A water grid isn't quite as difficult as it sounds - in fact we have the makings of one called the canal network. There is no real reason why the water market shouldn't be competitive, but like making meters compulsory to choke demand, the vested interests in the water companies aren't going to let it happen. Big money to be made owning and controlling a monopoly utility - ask any foreign pension fund.

How am I going to wash my car, patio etc ? I forsee a drought order on its way soon. watch this space.

Back in December I raised the topic of a pending water shortage and suggested that it would be unwise to continue with the current levels of immigration given that this vital resource was coming under pressure and consideration should be give to ensuring that those who all ready live in Great Britain were adequately supplied.
Well it looks like the situation has gotten worse and we face hosepipe bans.

Wouldn't it be more sensible to curb immigration and further massive house building projects and establish a robust and reliable water delivery system to cope with what we presently have before we reach a critical position?

Wait 'till I go on holiday.
Plenty of rain then!!

The problem seems regional (too many people in one area), rather than national, but I do agree that it's odd that we want to do so much but it seems we don't have enough water; Sandleford for instance!

Whether or not there are more people living in one are of the UK than another may exacerbate the problem but what has not being addressed in the past, or now for that matter, is the fundmental fact that more rain falls in the north of the country which is not being transferred south in some way where it can be used. Couple that with the successive governments not financing the building of additional resevoirs in the south or constructing salination plants and behold there are hosepipe bans.
This is a classic case of "lets ignore it cause it may rain tomorrow"

I imagine the car cleaning people in Sainsbury's car park will be rubbing their hands with glee as (presumably) the car wash will be turned off.

Anyone who lets the Sainsburys car wash people wash their car needs their heads testing...swirl mark city!! Oh for a fiver?!? Do it yourself lazy gits.

Although yes a lot of money will be made from this no doubt. But sainsburys car wash will still work because it uses recycled rainwater

But if there was enough rainwater, there wouldn't need to be a hosepipe ban...

And no, I don't use the car wash people, mainly because the car wash is cheaper.

Affect!

Careful, or you'll be called a grammar nazi by the anti-spelling mafia!