I can’t even use one in the first place. We need a pump to get the water to the sink. It doesn’t give enough pressure to run a hose. We have to collect rain in as many containers as we can find. Only one year did we resort to collecting the bath water.
Similar situation here Lyn. I don't use a hose. I am lucky enough to have a stream alongside my garden but when it's very low I have to fill the watering can with a jug. Up to now I've never felt the need for a hose. We brought one with is from our previous home nearly thirty years ago and it's been used for all sorts it wasn't intended for! I rinse my car using an ice-cream tub and bucket of water. I think it helps me to not take water for granted, or electric for that matter, living where power cuts frequently follow storms. And of course no power......no water through the taps.
Realistically, most underground leaks are pretty impossible to locate. The above ground leaks are very visible but most incidents are not like that. When I had a metre put in, the figures showed that there was a slow but continuous leak somewhere near the point where my house pipe meets the street pipe. It may have been leaking for decades. There was no visible sign of it, so nobody would ever have known.
Speaking for London, most of the piping is Victorian, running though always-moving clay. Some pipes still made of lead. Short of digging up all of London at depth, they have to work with what they have and replace piecemeal. They certainly need to get better at quality, proper fixes of leaks they do know about.
There's all sorts of technology for locating leaks @Fire. In Belgium, water companies are required by law to keep leakage below a certain percentage of flow or they get heavy fines. No such control in the UK so, unsurprisingly, far more is lost to leakage as there's no incentive to fix them.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
We are also lucky enough to have a stream and can abstract a small amount of water for our own use. We invested in solar panels on the summer house, which supply the batteries and, through an inverter, can power light etc. We have a low voltage submersible pump which can bring water up to the garden, though we do not use it for the lawn which is still surprisingly lush. As hub has had major cancer surgery and we are no spring chickens, it is an easy, green way to keep the necessities watered.
Years ago @Fire when we had a leaky CH system caused by earthquake style vibrations from heavy traffic in the road in front, the insurance company sent in a team of specialists armed with heat seeking instruments to locate hot water leaking into walls and floors and sonar stuff to listen for leaks in the concrete base under the floor tiles and behind the plaster in the walls. That was 20 years ago and on a domestic level.
I'm quite sure the water companies with all their millions have far more sophisticated technology available now.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
When I saw that the hot weather was on its way, I had a lot of plants ready to be planted out, I held back and put the pots in grow bag trays, keeps them damp, better than they would have if I’d put them out.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Don't they 'listen' for leaks - a long stick with an ear piece. The techy bit is what wood is used and how long the stick has to be. It also helps if the operator isn't deaf.
On our Allotments the main issue about hose vs watering can is, people are happy to use a hose for an hour or more, but how many would fill and use a hundred 10l cans? It would make them use the water much more sparingly and where it's really needed.
Posts
I am lucky enough to have a stream alongside my garden but when it's very low I have to fill the watering can with a jug.
Up to now I've never felt the need for a hose. We brought one with is from our previous home nearly thirty years ago and it's been used for all sorts it wasn't intended for! I rinse my car using an ice-cream tub and bucket of water.
I think it helps me to not take water for granted, or electric for that matter, living where power cuts frequently follow storms. And of course no power......no water through the taps.
We invested in solar panels on the summer house, which supply the batteries and, through an inverter, can power light etc.
We have a low voltage submersible pump which can bring water up to the garden, though we do not use it for the lawn which is still surprisingly lush.
As hub has had major cancer surgery and we are no spring chickens, it is an easy, green way to keep the necessities watered.
I'm quite sure the water companies with all their millions have far more sophisticated technology available now.