Subscribe to this blog's feedEven though water companies are always hoping to promote the sustainable use of water, Disconnector observes that many have scaled back their messages this year, perhaps feeling that this year's wet - very wet - and generally gloomy summer has not been the most receptive environment.
However, Disconnector hears whispers of some draconian measures imposed by their Australian and American counterparts that UK companies might like to take a look at, in case we are back in a drought situation next year.
In Brisbane, Disconnector hears, it is now illegal for householders to use a hosepipe at all. As for garden watering, residents are limited to buckets, and to short periods between five and seven pm twice a week. House washing - not familar in the rainy UK but apparently popular in Oz - is only permitted when the house is about to be sold.
Meanwhile, a Texas water supplier has taken the more inventive step of "buying" lawns from its customers. Not in the sense of rolling up the turf and re-laying it around the company head office: instead there are financial incentives to switch from water-hungry grass to horticulture more in keeping with the region's natural environment, which is a lot closer to desert than all those green lawns suggest. Cactus ahoy!
