Guildford Residents React to Thames Water’s Lifting of the Hosepipe Ban

Published on: 16 Jun, 2012
Updated on: 18 Jun, 2012

By Megan Scott

After nearly two months of heavy rainfall which commenced almost as soon as a hosepipe ban was introduced the ban was lifted by Thames Water this week.

Guildford residents seemed unsurprised by the news but critical of the state of the water supply infrastructure from which much more water is reported to leak out than can be saved through a ban on using hose pipes.

The River Wey at high level due to rainfall – Photo Megan Scott

According to a BBC News Website, Thames Water loses 26% of the total 2.6bn litres of water supplied per day. But it has reduced leaks by almost a quarter since 2005. Each person uses, on average, 150 litres of water every day.

Lorimer Burn, of Upper Guildown Road, said that he felt the ban was necessary, but unfortunately timed, given the sudden downpour. Mr Burn, who witnessed a burst pipe on the Mount, said the leaks were “a crying shame” and stated he appreciated that the replacement of pipes was a massive task, especially considering the extent of the pipes.

He was unaffected by the ban, as he had been conserving rainwater in water butts to tend to his garden with, but he finally said he felt that he would like to see that the pipe replacements be made the highest priority now the hosepipe ban is over.

Mr and Mrs Underwood from The Mount said that enforcing the ban seemed “a bit rich” when so much water has been lost due to the leaks, which can take weeks to be fixed. They believe that measures such as the hosepipe ban can encourage people to spy on their neighbours, “However,” said Derek Underwood, “there will always be someone using more than their fair share of water.”

Now that the ban has been lifted, they said they felt that more time should be spent getting people to use less water in their day-to-day lives, for example, turning off taps when brushing their teeth and reducing the amount of time spent using the shower.

What do you think? How did the ban affect you? Should more be done to fix the leaks and/or should we all learn to use less water? Please use the “leave a reply’ feature below to give your view (names must be given but email addresses are not published).