Water Restrictions in the South of England – Water a Very Precious Resource
By Philip Suter

The South of England has been experiencing water restrictions since the spring of 2005. In some parts the situation is so bad that water companies are making householders have water meters installed.

In other parts hosepipe use has been banned for domestic use and if the situation continues “drought orders” will come in meaning that car washing will be out of the question except for lights, windscreens and number plates.

The population living in the South of England has been increasing for years, whether or not the authorities have planned in the infrastructure for more water reservoirs or not, I don’t know. I do know that there are still numerous leaks on the local old pipe work that comes out onto the road. Naturally there is no sign if these pipes are also leaking under ground – I hope not.

We still have rain and apart from watering the gardens what happens to it when it falls on the domestic house? Usually it gathers in the roof guttering and goes to ground. Some people are now purchasing water butts to save water in for garden use.

We do have this natural resource and with some Government intervention by bringing in building regulations, could use this water for flushing the toilet etc. If the Government decreed that every new property had the means of draining water from the roof guttering into special tanks in the attic a great deal of pure recycled water could be saved. You don’t need drinking water to flush a WC with. Safeguards could be built in that if the tanks in the roof empty as a result on not being topped up by rainwater, then the normal household water supply takes over.

Property owners who wanted to have this type of water saving system installed in their older homes should be able to get grant aid like you used to for insulation and even heating at one time. There should also be the technology available to purify the same water for bath or shower use.

If new homes where to have self generating water supplies, why not use another great resource – sun light and make it obligatory whenever possible for all new properties to have solar panels installed.

Philip Suter is a Director of jml Property Services; http://www.jmlproperty.co.uk a UK based company offering Insurance products on line at http://www.jml-property-insurance.co.uk and a holiday home advertising service http://www.jmlvillas.com and management training within the UK. He a travel writer and is a very experienced property consultant with over 30 years work in the Residential letting business in the UK and served on the National Council of ARLA. He is a Fellow of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and a Member of The association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)

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