Oxfordshire to face hosepipe ban from 5th April
Oxfordshire will face a hosepipe ban from the 5th April, BBC News has reported. Thames Water and six other firms will impose the ban following two dry winters, which have left reservoirs and rivers below their normal levels.
Many gardeners are now attempting to tackle the problem by using their own methods. One example is Richard Preston, chairman of a local gardening club, who is using harvested rainwater to keep his land in good condition.
“I’m probably in a very envious position at the moment,” he said.
“We’ve just built a new house which we’ve moved into only a few months ago and in the design of the house we decided we should try and retain all the water from the roof,” said Mr Preston.
“We’ve installed a 4,500 litre rainwater harvester which means all the rainwater I collect off the roof of the house goes into a massive tank underground.”
A spokeswoman for Thames Water said that the firm is encouraging people to “harvest rainwater and collect or to use “greywater” to recycle in their garden”.
“We want everyone to use as little water as possible – we’re all in this together so the less water our customers use now, the more we’ll have to supply them with later,” the spokeswoman said.