A hosepipe ban in Kent and Sussex has officially come into force until further notice.
Anyone caught using hosepipes to water gardens, clean cars, patios and boats, and fill swimming pools face a fine of up to £1,000
Exemptions are in place for watering of new lawns for 4 weeks after laid and outside of peak hours between 8am to 10am and 5pm to 9pm

It astounds me that [one hopes] otherwise sane and reasonable folks could consider such waste of water responsible and appropriate in the current dry conditions. 
We have no hose, and make only modest use of watering cans. On the other hand we make use of "domestic water harvesting". By that I mean having a bucket or bowl handy for those occasions when you need to run cold water from a hot tap/shower before the warm comes through. You'd be surprised how much pure water you put down the drain in this way. Soapy water can be used to flush a loo. Why waste pure water? 🙄

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It astounds me that [one hopes] otherwise sane and reasonable folks could consider such waste of water responsible and appropriate in the current dry conditions. 
We have no hose, and make only modest use of watering cans. On the other hand we make use of "domestic water harvesting". By that I mean having a bucket or bowl handy for those occasions when you need to run cold water from a hot tap/shower before the warm comes through. You'd be surprised how much pure water you put down the drain in this way. Soapy water can be used to flush a loo. Why waste pure water? 🙄

I agree with your point entirely but there's no way that when i'm rushing to get ready in the morning that i'd have the time or patience to collect waste water. Kudos to you for managing to do so, Roger!

What we really need is the utilities within our houses to be re-engineered to make better use of the waste water that goes down our drains or collects in our gutters. 

On a micro scale installing water butts is a great starting point. I have about 1m3 capacity now and its been transformative to the way I garden and manage water. 

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All you need is an old bucket and a bailer in the bathroom and you are in business! You put the bailer under the tap, turn it on and tip it in the bucket. 😁 Repeat as required. You are standing there - what else do you need to do?

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SEPA have just released this week's water scarcity report (as issued on Friday 30 June 2023) which can be read here .

According to this latest report, recent rainfall has led to an improvement in many places, especially in some central and western areas but parts of the east which have been that bit drier, are still continuing to dry out further and this rainfall has generally not been enough for any widespread and significant improvement in the overall situation.

A few more areas in the north and far south of Scotland have been raised to significant water scarcity from moderate water scarcity, although one part of Dumfries and Galloway has gone in the opposite direction from significant water scarcity to just moderate water scarcity.

In addition to that, a few parts of NE Scotland have been escalated from alert level for water scarcity to moderate water scarcity although there is an area further to the west which has gone in the other direction from moderate water scarcity down to alert level for water scarcity.

The Shetland Isles have now been raised from early warning status to alert status for water scarcity but parts of the west of Scotland have been downgraded from alert level back down to early warning status for water scarcity.

According to SEPA, the general outlook is fairly unsettled which means that there should be some more rain to come, but the actual amounts of rain which are likely to fall are still uncertain and it is still possible that more locations might be raised to significant water scarcity level when it comes to next week's report is there continues to be no real improvement in the overall river levels.
 

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