[Growster...]

In the last week, I've had two 'nudges' from South East Water, which I assume are fore-runners to a hosepipe ban and 'advice' on the usual ways to conserve water!

Mumofstig mentioned elswehere, that she can remember the 1976 heatwave, and I easily can as well, as younger daughter was only a couple of months old, and went as brown as a berry!

We also had a big outside water tank in the old farm cottage we lived in, and topped it up with all sorts of water from the girls' baths, washing up etc, and the garden really thrived too!

[JayG]

Yorkshire Water have just started what could turn out to be the 'softening up' process:

Yorkshire Water has admitted it can't rule out restrictions, such as a hosepipe ban, this summer after reservoirs were left lower than average due to a prolonged dry spell.

The firm said the amount of stored water is now the same as in 1995 - when supplies ended up being brought to the area by tankers.

Neil Dewis, head of water, urged customers to consider their usage.

He said restrictions were "just one of the tools" the company could use.

[Lardman]

Nothing from Seven Trent yet. Perhaps they have used some of the 10 percent increase in my water bill this year to fix some of the leaks and the situation isn't as dire as usual. 

Edit : I take it back at 14:16 I received an email subject "Saving water and money this summer".

[Christine]

Northumberland will join you. Emails are out. Rivers look low.

[mrs bouquet]

Save water  -  bath with a friend  !!   Mrs B

[Growster...]

Chatting with a chum this morning, he said that our main reservoir, Bewl Water, near here, is 65% full, so he couldn't see a problem yet!

They can also take water from the Medway several miles away, but only under certain circumstances, and anyway, we could both remember a few years ago, when there was just the original Bewl Stream running through the place!

[Aunt Sally]

… which I assume are fore-runners to a hosepipe ban…

Get ahead of a hosepipe ban, Mr G…

[Growster...]

Hope you're not too close to The Medway, Aunty, you may be able to walk across when they drain it for us poor souls around here..;0)!

Incidentally, do you remember back in the early eighties, they actually built a temporary dam across the river by Maidstone Bridge/Bishop's Palace? It's quite shallow there, and helped them retrieve a load of shopping trolleys, bikes and old pushchairs!

[Aunt Sally]

I’m quite close to the Medway, Mr G.  But I don’t know about the dam in the 80’s. 

[Goosegirl]

Nothing as yet from our water board. Just some thoughts from GG about keeping cool:-
1) If you get hot whilst sitting outside, have a bucket of cold water on hand to plunge your feet into it whenever the mood takes you.
2) If you have a fan (by that I mean an electrical one) fill one of those polybags that you fill with water to make ice cubes, freeze it down then attach it to the outer protective grill of your fan so as to cool the air even more. DO NOT allow water to drip onto any electrical devices or both you and I will be toast and the mods will tan my bum big time!
3) To avoid heatstroke I suggest you wear whatever outfit you feel is appropriate for you on the day. If you have enrolled for a half-marathon dressed as Pooh Bear or Muffin the Mule (with strings attached as usual) I suggest you feign a sudden migraine.
4) If you have the sudden desire to fry eggs on the hood of your car, patio, pergola roof or whatever, please remember to ensure that your car and all your machinery using petrol are leak-proof and stored in a fireproof place complete with a current certificate just in case your neighbour tries a BBQ for the first time, sets his house on fire, then tries to lay the blame on you.
5) Don't go topless for goodness sake, wear a hat! 

[Hampshire Hog]

Southern water hose pipe ban kicks in next Friday (5th).
Have to wait and see if south east water copies them.
Doesn’t impact allotment as we don’t have hose pipes just troughs of water.

[mumofstig]

Doesn’t impact allotment as we don’t have hose pipes just troughs of water.

If there is a ban, our water will get turned off at the mains, so the troughs can't refill 

[Hampshire Hog]

That sounds ominous Mum!
Hope it doesn’t work like that here, I have been watering every day just to keep my veg alive. Keep praying for rain.

[jaydig]

Save water  -  bath with a friend  !!   Mrs B

Brilliant idea!   I can't get in and out of the bath easily these days, so having a bath with a friend might turn out to be very useful.

[Growster...]

Soon after we moved here back in the early nineties - there was one of the usual hot summers that the UK normally gets on a regular basis, (not when the BBC tells us that it's down to globule worming and we're all going to die), we used to divert the bathwater outlet via a piece of gutter onto the garage roof, and then down into the water butt below...

Funny how the bath taps were often left on by mistake..;0~