Is it possible to use the roadside fire hydrants??

[The Question Asker]

Hi, As you may have seen from a recent post we have dug out a rather large pond and need to fill it before the clay dries out... We have a Yellow fire hydrant positioned out the front of our house, my Q's are...

1) Do you think it will be possible to hire a hose connect it up and fill up the pond (Under the cover of darkness)?? 2) Following on, would it be detectable, in decrease in water pressure either from homes or somewhere central. 3) If we contacted the authorities (Who is in charge of them) would we be able to use it and for what cost?

We are on a water meter and so are our neighbours, next door use to not be on a water meter and she's filled up most of the peoples ponds along the road but now that's not an option... The cost of filling it up by hose pipe would cost a small fortune I imagine. Cheers Oli

[Toby]

I have heard of the Fire Brigade filling (and emptying) swimming pools before, so I would imagine a pond would be OK. This was in rural Essex and done from the engine/tank. Might seem a bit strange asking them.

Toby

[Rick Hughes]

You can hire standpipe & valve tool from HSS - I used one to get water during my build.

[The Question Asker]

[BAH]

Get the tool, go on and just do it! BUT, don't tell anyone, and particularly don't mention it to any newsgroups............ BAH

[The Question Asker]

Well just measured our pond its 8m*12m and 1m all over, which makes it 96 cubic meters, making it £144 a small fortune for water....

[The Question Asker]

Well just measured our pond its 8m*12m and 1m all over, which makes it 96 cubic meters, making it £144 a small fortune for water....

[<nightjar>]

Perhaps that is something that you should have considered before digging the pond?

Not only do you need permission to use a hydrant, the water authority will also charge you for the amount of water you draw from it. Taking water without payment is theft. We had to get the lawyers onto a company that kept sending its gully washers onto our industrial estate, to fill up at our private hydrants, so that they could avoid paying the water authority charges.

The alternative is to divert all your rainwater down pipes and hope for wet weather.

Colin Bignell

[BigWallop]

Especially this one.

[geoff]

In message , nightjar@?.?.invalid writes

Shouldn't take long ... it is summer

[Malcolm Stewart]

I've got just the reverse problem to you. Water is steadily appearing in one part of my garden and seeping into the ground a short distance away, between my house and my neighbours fence. Neighbour is away abroad on holiday, so can't find out any details from them just now, although their house is being minded, and it doesn't seem to be from a garden watering system, stuck in the "full-on" position. At the moment I don't know if my problem is a new spring (it's Oxford clay underneath, I've been here 20 years and it's never happened before), or whether it's a mains supply leak. Said water is gently up-welling from below ground, and this is happening at a point which is not the lowest point by any means, and areas a short distance away are still dry. Supply pipe runs are some distance away on the far side of both my and my neighbour's houses. I've checked the water hardness, and for what it's worth the up-welling water is 25-30% harder than the already hard tap-water.

It's sure making the vegetation grow like there's no tomorrow!

I'm a bit reluctant to contact the water authorities before neighbour returns home!

-- M Stewart Milton Keynes, UK

[The Question Asker]

[BigWallop]

'Cause they sell more tickets to the fireman's balls.

[The Question Asker]

[Paul C. Dickie]

In article , nightjar@?.? writes

So whose water was it before the water company got it -- and was any payment made for the company's acquisition of that water?

Did the industrial estate use its own well(s), spring(s) or aquifer(s) and, if not, whence did that water supply originate?

[geoff]

In message , BigWallop writes

I do hope that it's nothing to do with selling more tickets

[The Question Asker]

I heard from a friend that you can get a pond allowance for one pond filling, whereby they don't charge u, any body got information on this

[The Question Asker]

u got it

[Ian French]

Hi All,

To put this in context, here in the Thames Water area we pay £1.02 for 1000 litres on a water meter. Now 1000litres is a cubic metre so if you have a really big pond, say 10 metres long by 3 metres wide and 1 metre deep, this is 30 cu metres so it will cost you the princely sum of £30.60 to fill it. Might be cheaper than hireing the tool and risking prosecution!

Ian.

[BigWallop]

And here was me thinking that it was only the gods that gave you free pond filling. :-))