Sussex TUBs further restrictions

If you believe you should be on the Priority Services Register, please go to www.southeastwater.co.uk/psr to register.

Using a hosepipe that is connected to a water butt or other recycled water storage system will not be restricted. However, you cannot use a hosepipe connected to mains water to fill a water butt.

Yes.

A temporary use ban does not prohibit the use of water for cleaning carpets, but we would ask that you consider waiting until we are confident that the situation has improved to ensure that our supplies are not impacted any further.

• Take a short, sharp shower instead of a bath. We suggest 4 minutes maximum
• Turn the tap off while brushing your teeth, shaving or cleaning
• Fix any dripping taps and leaking appliances or pipes
• Use dishwashers and washing machines only when they are full and on the ECO setting.
• Wash vegetables in a bowl rather than under a running tap and reuse this water on plants.
• If you have an older toilet with a large cistern, put a water saving device(opens in a new tab) inside that will reduce the amount of water used in each flush. For dual flush toilets, use the short flush.
• Use washing up water to rinse out cans and bottles for recycling.
• Put a jug of water in the fridge to keep it cool, this avoids needing to run the tap until the water gets cold each time you want a drink.
• Plan ahead and move frozen food to the refrigerator to thaw overnight instead of defrosting it under a running tap.
• Turn the water off while lathering up, shampooing, or shaving, and only turn it back on to rinse.
• Collect the clean cold water from baths, showers and sinks while you wait for it to heat up to reuse elsewhere around the home and garden.

For those customers who find it hard to make adaptations and previously had an exemption for this reason, you are no longer exempt from the ban and you should not use a hosepipe. Please see the table here for a full list of health and safety based exemptions that apply to everyone.

Please see the table here for a full list of health and safety based exemptions that apply to everyone. Only those exemptions allow you to use a hosepipe.

No. The bill you pay is for water supplied for drinking, cooking, washing and sanitation purposes. We have to plan on the basis that we may have to impose restrictions during long periods of very dry weather or drought, which means that the bills you pay already reflect the potential for restrictions. If your bill includes an additional charge for a use covered by the ban, please let us know so we can give an appropriate allowance.

We are in exceptional circumstances due to prolonged periods of dry weather and lower rainfall than average for this time of year. We really need to ask every one of our customers to do as much as they can to reduce the amount of water they use. Your bill pays for the provision of clean safe water. We are not asking you to stop using water, but to only use it for essential purposes to avoid waste.

We are in exceptional circumstances due to the prolonged period of dry weather. We are now at the point where we really need to ask every one of our customers to do as much as they can to reduce the amount of water they use. Your bill pays for the provision of clean safe water. We are not asking you to stop using water, but to only use it for essential purposes to avoid waste. As you are using your water, then you are liable to pay for it. If you choose not to pay your bill at all, we will unfortunately continue with our debt recovery process.

You may water your garden with tap water by hand, using a bucket, or with a watering can. You may also water your garden using greywater (i.e. from showers) or rainwater from a water butt through a hosepipe. You might consider investing in drip or trickle irrigation watering systems, fitted with a pressure reducing valve and a timer, that are not handheld, that place water drip by drip directly onto the soil surface or beneath the soil surface, without any surface run off or dispersion of water through the air using a jet or mist. These devices are not prohibited under the Temporary Use Ban because they are very water efficient.

• Cut down on the number of pots/planters you have and go for one or two larger containers which don’t dry out too quickly.
• If you’re buying new pots/planters, go for the plastic ones with water reservoirs which store water underneath.
• If you put plastic pots inside your terracotta pots or line your terracotta pots with a recycled carrier bag, you’ll cut down on water loss through evaporation.
• Use bio-degradable crystals in planters. They reduce the need for watering down to once or twice a week.
• Recycle plastic bottles. Put a tiny pin prick an inch from the bottom and fill with water. Then place the bottle among your plants or vegetables for slow release watering.
• Use mulches like bark chips or gravel to help retain moisture.
• Choose plants that like dry conditions – those with the full sun label in the garden centre, or check out the Royal Horticultural Society web site www.rhs.org.uk(opens in a new tab) which has really good advice on drought tolerant planting.
• Don’t water your lawn. Golden lawns will come back to green again very quickly when regular patterns of rain return.
• Reset your lawn mower blades to 4cm to encourage dense bushy growth which traps early morning dew and reduces evaporation. We would recommend letting the grass clippings go on the lawn every third mow.
• Store any rainwater in a water butt and use this to top up your pond or water your garden. You can also purchase submersible pumps from garden centres and DIY stores, which will enable you to pump rainwater through your existing hoses.

The restrictions do not cover commercial buildings: a hosepipe can still be used by commercial organisations for / on / in commercial buildings. Where this is within a domestic property, the entire property needs to be let and not just a room within the domestic property. Where the accommodation is not formally registered as a business, i.e. the property owner pays council tax, not business rates, any garden associated with the accommodation is classed as a domestic garden and falls under the TUB restrictions.

No, this is not permitted under the updated restrictions. You may however, use an alternative water source such as a watering can, a drip or trickle irrigation system.

No it does not.

Not if it is a drip fed system. In all other instances, yes it does.

Yes it does.

Please see the table here. An allotment used for non-commercial purposes is classed as a ‘garden’.

Yes it does.

Only where this is unavoidable and for the welfare of the fish.

Only where this is used as part of recognised religious practices.

This is defined as a pool with a permanent filter system which allows continuous circulation of the water and no regular discharge is necessary to maintain water quality. Only discharge allowed is backwashing to clean filters as part of regular maintenance. Ideally backwashing of filters should be no more than once a week for not more than a few minutes at time. However you cannot use a hose to top up the swimming pool.

Yes.

You can fill the water tank of a motor home with tap water using a hosepipe, as long as this water is then used for drinking/cooking/washing or sanitation purposes and not for any activity prohibited under the Temporary Use Ban.

Watering your garden is not for health or safety, so you will not be able to do this with a hosepipe. Health and safety includes activities that need to be done to ensure that you are removing or minimising the risk to human or animal health or safety; or preventing the spread of controlling disease. But this should only be where it cannot be done by means other than with a hosepipe.

Only where unavoidable for health and safety reasons. We would ask if you can wait until we are confident supplies have replenished to manageable levels.

You are prohibited from using a hosepipe to clean patios. The exemption is when doing so as part of a business service to customers, for cleaning a public service, or where there is an unavoidable safety risk and no alternative method is available.

You cannot use a hosepipe to wash your wheelie bin unless the requirement to clean it poses a health and safety risk.

The hosepipe ban only applies to water supplied by South East Water. Abstraction of water from the ground and from springs is regulated by the Environment Agency and we suggest that you contact them for any clarification about your rights to do this.

Unfortunately we are unable to provide informed advice as to which plants may be affected by the use of such water. Therefore we advise customers to discuss with garden centres or seek advice through related internet sites.

A newly laid lawn at a domestic premises cannot be watered using a hosepipe. Additionally, you cannot use a hosepipe to water trees, whips, saplings and hedging planted before the ban, in the last three years, where this cannot be reasonably done by way of a watering can, only. We are conscious of the adverse effect the TUB has had on some of our commercial customers and we wanted to alleviate that proportionally.

Most businesses can still operate – see table here.

Previously we were able to make a concession for car washing businesses, however, as we are now in drought we need to remove this concession. Cleaning a private motor-vehicle (or a trailer for such a vehicle) using a hosepipe, where this is done as a service to customers in the course of a business or to clean public service or goods vehicles, including taxis and goods or commercial vehicles is no longer permitted to be done using a hosepipe. There are alternative ways to clean vehicles, such as using water from a bucket.

You cannot clean your private vehicle with a hosepipe. We would ask that you refrain from doing this at garages too.

For businesses like window cleaners where there is unavoidable safety risk and no alternative method, for example cleaning high up windows you can still use a hosepipe.

For businesses where you are cleaning as a service to customers, like window cleaners, where there is unavoidable safety risk and no alternative method, for example cleaning high up windows you can still use a hosepipe.

Not with a hosepipe. Try looking at ways to collect rainwater from the roof and use water efficient planters with water troughs, gel crystals and drought tolerant plants to reduce the amount of water needed.

You cannot use a hosepipe to water potted plants at a commercial property. We would encourage you to use alternative methods such as a watering can.

The ban prohibits the filling of all domestic swimming pools, unless it is done with a water conservation recycling system or by hand held container. However, there is an exemption where you can use a hosepipe if you are filling or maintaining a permanent pool where necessary in the course of construction, where it is related to medical treatment or in places of worship or part of religious ceremonies. Ideally, water from the pool to be refurbished or repaired should be retained in a temporary structure.

No. The ban prohibits the filling of all domestic swimming pools, unless it is done with a water conservation recycling system or by hand held container. However, there is an exemption where you can use a hosepipe if you are filling or maintaining a permanent pool where necessary in the course of construction, where it is related to medical treatment or in places of worship or part of religious ceremonies.

Yes this is not a domestic swimming pool.

You cannot use a hosepipe to water the garden and vegetable plot.

No.

Your commercial agricultural activities will not be affected by the ban but you must observe all of the prohibited uses in your home and garden. We would still encourage you to consider saving water and explore water-saving technologies such as rainwater harvesting where possible.

If there is a risk to the welfare of your pet or non-commercial livestock, and cleaning them cannot be reasonably done by other means, then yes, you can use a hosepipe in that instance.

No - this is covered under the 'garden' section of the ban.

Now, the only exemptions are for health, safety or welfare of humans and animals. Our operational area in Sussex is in drought, so we must take extra steps to protect supplies and the environment. This does mean that some commercial services that use a hosepipe are no longer permitted, such as car washes. However, those activities can reasonably be done by other methods, such as using buckets of water. For other businesses, like window cleaners, they can use hosepipes where there is unavoidable safety risk and no alternative method, for example cleaning high up windows.

The Water Industry Act (“WIA”) section 76(1)) and as further detailed in the Water Use (Temporary Bans) Order 2010 provides for the prohibition of one or more uses of water during times of serious water shortage.

We find our customers are very supportive and understanding of the need to save water. If a customer contravenes the prohibition, it is an offence and if convicted the customer could face a fine of up to £1000. (WIA s76 (5)). However prosecution is very much a last resort and something no company wants to have to do. Instead, we are asking for people’s help as we are restoring our water levels.

We will to a large degree be relying on people’s goodwill in observing the restrictions. However, our customers need to be aware of the seriousness of the situation. We have powers to prosecute in a situation where someone knowingly ignores the restrictions and will use these powers where we think it is justified and in line with our enforcement policy, which can be found at www.southeastwater.co.uk/tubs. We will certainly look into cases where people tell us about hosepipe and sprinkler use.

Decisions about prosecution will be based on the specific facts of each case, taking everything into consideration.

It is an offence to contravene this prohibition. The maximum penalty for each offence is £1,000.

Although those who wilfully breach the terms of the water-use bans can be prosecuted, that is very much a last resort and something no company wants to have to do. Instead, we are asking for people’s co-operation.

Please contact us via www.southeastwater.co.uk/tubs so that we can check to see if any exemptions are in place and take the appropriate action should your neighbour be ignoring, knowingly or unknowingly, the restrictions in place.

No it is not our intention to carry out such checks. We will be to a large degree reliant upon the goodwill of our customers to adhere to the restrictions.