I live close to a river. Can I, with my own pump, suck water from the river and fill up my water tank and then with my pump, pump the water from my tank over my garden.

I think you can as long as not commercial and not more than 200(?) gallons a day. It may be the river has to be adjacent to your property.....
Same if you have a well (or dig one) I believe....

In terms of the hose pipe ban as I understand it the ban is on the use of a hosepipe for carrying water, it doesn't matter whos water or where it comes from, so you can't use a hose to take water from a river, nor can you use a hose to water the garden with used bath water. Actually it depends on what exactly the hosepipe ban says because the water companies have considerable latitude to say what is and isn't allowed.

On the river part of the question I thought you had to have an abstraction license to take water from a river even if you were the riparian owner, though I may be wrong. I'm pretty sure NWNR is right about taking water from a well if it's less than a certain (fairly large) limit, but I haven't come accross that for rivers.

Sorry, ignore all that, as I read it the Thames Water restriction applies only to their potable (tap) water, so I don't think there's a problem using the hose with river or well water (though I guess bath water is still covered by the ban unless you bathe in a river or well).

It looks like it's 4,000 gallons a day before you need a license. See here. Of course if you're not the riparian owner then taking water without permission is probably going to be stealing.

I am sure you are right, but I can remember reports in years gone by of people setting up a garden sprinkler and leaving it on whilst they went away overnight. That needs to be prevented - yellow lawns quickly recover once the rain returns. But perhaps with more and more households on water meters, that is less likley to happen these days.

I did away with the traditional lawn in the front garden. It seemed like a radical thing to do at the time, but we have a tree and shrub border and sizable pond with planting round it, and I absolutely love it.

Yes that's very stupid and these people should be shot.

Also Simon I thought you could use a hosepipe to dispense water collected from a water butt for example? I would.
And eff da po-leece if they came to throw me in da slammer.

Why I asked about the length of a piece of hosepipe to fill a watering can is:- some time
during the last hose pipe ban someone was caught with the hosepipe in the watering can
and the guy was just letting it run out the spout to water his plants. If I remember right
he won the day in court. All he did was save time going back and forth to the hosepipe to
fill the can which was allowed then and is now.

I think this may have been a story about the gardener at No 10 Downing Street? I believe there is now a supplement to the Act that defines "using a hosepipe" to include using a hosepipe as any part of a watering activity.

You can only use a hose if it is for genuine health and safety reasons and you can prove that it is not practical to use any other method. It has got to be straight from the tap.

http://www.hosepipeban.org.uk/2012/03/26/t...trictions-2012/

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So it sounds as if I can pump with a hosepipe from my well.

But as folk know after a couple of flagons of cider the plants get well watered.
Ask Bob Flowerdew. He used "waste" water to get compost fruity on TV years ago.

The water is good ...I tried it on a cat who enjoyed the cool natural taste.
Well there is an advert for you.I am sure someone has thought of that already though.
Perhaps I should bottle it and blackmarket it when the real droughts hit..

Still we planted things that could survive as we were not there all the time.
So I guess we thought of drought friendly planting many years ago in Norfolk.
The soil is rubbish anyway mostly fire cinders over 150 years. Water just runs off.
ce

It worked... my first attempt at a .jpeg.

Watching the history of "Queen" last night. (Not my cup of Horlicks really)
"There is no stopping me now". What japes to be had.
ce

A fine programme... You go up in my estimation

Thanks NWN. I have to say it was a time of austerity,
and children,and mortgages. I had to give up something.

It was an interesting programme. and I hope they didn't miss my
dropping out of music buying for a bit.
ce

Poor Mr Benyon - it seems he has been 'got at' by journos...
According to The Telegraph today a journo and photographer found a hose running at his property....
He says they turned it on

It is stated he has called in Plod to investigate.

Original story:
http://www.people.co.uk/news/uk-world-news...02039-23817573/

Defra last night issued a statement over our revelation about the hosepipe at Englefield. An official said: “Mr Benyon has reported to Thames Valley Police an incident of trespass on his property on the afternoon of the 6 April and the police are investigating.”

But a spokesman for the force said: “We were notified about an incident but the caller did not require our attendance and there’s no further police involvement.”

http://www.people.co.uk/news/uk-world-news...02039-23817573/

I think you are wrong. The regulations apply to a hosepipe connected to a tap dispensing the water company's mains supply. Using a hosepipe to syphon water out of a domestic bath is surely OK. There is no restriction on how much water you can put in your bath, nor how many times you can use it. Any method of transferring that bath water onto the garden, whether by hose or bucket, is perfectly legitimate.

I think Simon is right. You must not use a hosepipe to dispense water that Thames Water has processed. 'Potable' means water treated to drinkable standards.

Thames Water Utilities Limited gives notice to all of its customers, that the potable* water it supplies throughout its entire area must not be used for the following purposes:

* Water treated to drinkable standards.

http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/...s.xsl/15443.htm