When they’re not discharging sewage into rivers and the sea, or failing to fix leaks, the water companies seem poised to launch a hosepipe ban. To be fair, it’s been an extremely hot and dry summer for most of the country.
If you’re one of the millions of affected households, then you don’t have to sit back and watch your garden die, as there are some legal ways to keep your plants fresh and watered.
For this article, I’m focusing on established gardens; most water companies allow hosepipe watering of food crops and new plants and lawns under certain conditions. For example, Thames Water has this rule for new lawns and plants: “You can only use a hose or sprinkler if the laying, sowing or planting was completed by a business as a service. In this case, hose use is allowed for the first 28 days from the day of planting, sowing or turf laying. The hosepipe must only be used on the new planting, and not elsewhere.”
Of course, before you do anything, it’s worth checking with your specific water company if an activity is allowed or not.
Drip watering system
You can’t spray wildly, but drip irrigation systems, such as those sold by Hozelock, are typically allowed during most hosepipe bans. Rather than spraying water, these systems drip water exactly where it’s needed. Even outside of a hosepipe ban, these systems are more efficient and will save you money.
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You’ll need to check compatibility with your water company, but to stay compliant with a hosepipe ban, most systems need to have a pressure-reducing valve and a timer. Be careful of the adaptors that you use: you can’t use ones that use a jet or mist, and the system must drip water directly onto or beneath the surface.
You’ll also need a timer, which can be a smart one, such as the Eve Aqua.
Use a cordless pressure washer with a water butt
In most hosepipe ban areas, you can still use buckets and watering cans for the garden, but this can be a faff. However, if you have a water butt, then a cordless pressure washer could help make the job easier.
Provided your cordless pressure washer, such as the Stihl RCA 20, can work with alternative water sources, such as water butts, you can use this to draw the water directly out, and spray it where you want.
With the RCA 20, the end of the hose can be dropped into a water butt, with a filter used to prevent any bits of debris being sucked up.
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As you haven’t connected the pressure washer to the mains water, you’re not breaking any rules. Just remember, you can’t use mains water to top up your water source, and have to rely on either rain water or grey water harvesting.
Turn down the pressure, so that you’re lightly sprinkling water, rather than jetting it out, and target the roots of your plants to make the most of this method.