Hampshire County Council

Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel Item 13

11 July 2006

Hosepipe Ban and Drought Orders

Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

How the conclusion in this report fits with the Corporate Strategy

This scheme will impact on the delivery of the following Corporate Aims

Aim 2 - stewardship of the environment - by managing water resources and responding to water restrictions if required.

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Summary

1.1

This report sets out the potential impact on the County Council should a Hosepipe Ban and Drought Order be introduced. Most of the County Council's services will not be affected by a Drought Order unless the most severe Order i.e. Level 3, is introduced. The site most affected is likely to be the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens.

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Water Companies Serving Hampshire

2.1

Hampshire is served by a number of water companies:

· Thames Water Utilities

· Southern Water

· Portsmouth Water

· Bournemouth and West Hants Water Company

· South East Water

Of these only Thames Water and South East Water currently have a hosepipe ban in place in Hampshire. Thames Water covers a small area in the north of the County around Tadley, whilst South East Water serve Basingstoke and Deane, East Hants, Hart and Rushmoor district or borough councils.

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Levels of Drought Restrictions

3.1

Restrictions apply at a number of levels depending on their severity:

Level 1:

· Hosepipe bans


Water companies can impose hosepipe and sprinkler bans without the need to obtain permission from the Government or the Environment Agency.


These bans generally only extend to domestic premises and prohibit the use of hosepipes and sprinklers for watering gardens, car washing and the like.


Hoses can however still be used to fill private swimming pools and wash down paths and drives etc. Commercial operations are not affected by a hosepipe ban.

3.2

Level 2

· Drought Orders


Water companies can apply to the Environment Secretary for permission to impose a ban on the non-essential use of water.

A drought order enables the water company to ban many activities, although, in practice, they may choose not to implement the full range of powers


1. The use of hosepipes or sprinklers to water gardens, lawns, sports grounds whether public or privately owned.

2. Filling privately owned swimming pools(except for medical treatment)

3. Filling or running ornamental ponds, fountains or cascades (excluding fish ponds)

4. Operating mechanical car washes

5. Washing cars, boats trains or aircraft other than for safety or hygiene reasons

6. Cleaning the outsides of buildings(excluding windows)

7. Cleaning industrial premises or plant other than for safety or hygiene reasons

8. Using hosepipes to clean windows

9. Running automatically flushing toilets during periods when the building is unoccupied.

3.3

· Drought Permits

Allow water companies to take water from other sources to

supplement existing supplies.

3.4

Level 3

· Emergency Drought Orders

Water companies can apply to the Environment Secretary to restrict

the use of water in any way it deems necessary to conserve supplies

e.g. shut off supplies to homes and use standpipes in the street.

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How could this affect Hampshire County Council?

4.1

Apart from the use of water for normal `domestic' purposes i.e. drinking, catering use, washing etc, in offices, schools and residential premises, there are a number of businesses that use water in their normal day to day processes.

4.2

Businesses such as:

· Hampshire Print Works - uses water to wash down its printing equipment. This would probably be characterised as essential usage to carry on normal operations.

· Hampshire Transport - operate a number of vehicle wash facilities at the depots which would be classed as non-essential usage.

· Cleaning - most cleaning within buildings across the County is either provided in-house (school caretakers) or by private companies under contract. Cleaning operations probably fall into an intermediate category in terms of priority for water usage (most cleaning activities will not require water and some that do will have a health & safety impact, e.g. washing & toilet facilities, care homes/day centres)

· HC3S - use water in food preparation, but will be classed as essential health and safety use and/or for consumption

· Sir Harold Hillier Gardens - use substantial amounts of water for irrigation purposes, most of which is supplied from the mains. Southern Water has confirmed that the Gardens will be a special case and not exempt from any Drought Order imposed.

4.3

Another possible impact of a Level 2 Drought Order could be the operation of school swimming pools. Whilst hydrotherapy pools such as the ones at Osbourne School, Limington House School and Shepherds Down School would be exempt (medical use), other school pools could be affected. It is unlikely that swimming delivered as part of the curriculum would be affected, but many of the pools operated by community schools generate income for the school and a drought order could impact on their use.

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Dealing with a Drought Order

5.1

For most of the services delivered by the County Council a Drought Order will not impact severely, unless a Level 3 Order is imposed, as the majority of water use is for personal consumption or essential to business continuity. There may be a limitation on the cleaning of vehicles, but this is unlikely to impact on the business. The use of school swimming pools may also be limited. Also, some refreshment facilities may have to be withdrawn from County Council operated visitor attractions, although the water companies may relax the order to allow this type of service to operate.

5.2

The major exception could be the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens. Possible actions to address this could include using water from the pond to water critical plants/areas. Alternatively, the Gardens could sink its own borehole. Preliminary discussions with Southern Water have indicated that 20m³ per day may be drawn from a borehole without the need to apply for an extraction licence. This water could be stored in tanks either at a central location at the borehole head or locally at the points of use. This option will be kept under review in the coming weeks.

5.3

A Level 3 drought order would have a major impact on all of the County Councils activities including the HQ complex if the water companies are granted permission to turn off supplies in the street and install standpipes.

5.4

Residential Accommodation could be hardest hit particularly the Older Persons Homes, Nursing Care and Children's Residential Homes. Although it is highly unlikely that water will be cut off from essential premises such as these, all Nursing Care and Residential Homes have a store of drinking water sufficient to last for 24 hrs. If a Level 3 Drought Order is imposed we will need to work closely with the water companies to ensure supplies to these homes is maintained.

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Conclusion

6.1

It is unlikely that the imposition of a Level 2 Drought Order would materially affect most of the services provided by the County Council, the one major exception being the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens.

6.2

Other areas of the County Council's activities could be impacted by a Level 2 Drought Order if the water companies class water used to provide refreshments to visitors as non-essential and that school pools are `private pools'.

6.3

A Level 3 Drought Order would have significant impact on the operation of the County Council's day to day activities and if such an order is imposed it will be important to work closely with the water companies to ensure essential services can be maintained and the health of vulnerable people in our case is not compromised.

Recommendation

That the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel advise the Executive Member for Policy and Resources that:

1

The position regarding potential water restrictions/Drought Order is monitored and produce a contingency plan should a Level 3 Drought Order be introduced.