End the Unfair Ban on the Use of Hosepipes...

End the Unfair Ban on the Use of Hosepipes on Bristol Allotments.

Allotment tenancy agreements have long prohibited the use of hosepipes for the direct watering of crops, but tenants have been allowed to use hosepipes for filling water butts and tanks from the mains supply.

The current ban – based on an alleged but wholly unsubstantiated risk of Legionnaire’s Disease - prohibits all use of hosepipes, both for filling water butts from the mains supply and for the movement of harvested rainwater within individual plots.

This has potentially serious implications for many tenants, especially those for whom the manual handling risks of carrying water over long distances are such that they are now being exposed to significant risks to their health and safety. Many may be forced to give up their plots.

This ban is discriminatory and unnecessary – we call for it to be amended, both to allow the filling of water butts and the use of hosepipes within rainwater harvesting systems, for the following reasons:

·         It is not supported by the science. You cannot contract Legionnaire’s Disease through any form of contact other than inhaling minute aerosol droplets of contaminated water deep into your lungs. Neither filling water butts from the mains, nor the movement of harvested rainwater can create such aerosols.

·         There has never been a single confirmed death from Legionnaire’s Disease contracted from a garden hose, despite countless millions of individual uses of hoses worldwide for several decades.

·         It is not supported by any of the main authoritative horticultural or public health bodies, none of whom call for any such restrictions. Furthermore, the legal officer at the National Allotment Society believes the Council are overstepping their jurisdiction: she said ‘I do not see how [moving harvested rainwater within a plot] can in anyway come under the responsibility of the Council.

·         It is not supported by the Council’s own Risk Assessments, which explicitly confirms that there is no risk of contracting legionnaire’s disease through the movement of harvested rainwater using hosepipes.

The assessment concludes that the impact of the ban on elderly, pregnant and disabled people is ‘disproportionate.’

Despite all this, Bristol City Council refuses to budge and won’t even discuss the matter with allotment tenants!

Please sign the petition

Read the full briefing paper

October Update

We're delighted to announce that during September our petition gained a further 100 supporters.
The image below is a snapshop as of the 1st October, please click HERE for our latest figure. 

With your help to share the link of the petition with your allotment neighbours we will increase support and present the final figure to Bristol City Council on 14th November. 

Please copy and paste the link: https://tinyurl.com/allotmentspetition when next posting on your social media or emails to other plot holders, thanks.

New Poster For Your Social Media or Allotments Noticeboards

Please share our poster with your allotment neighbours
on social media or site noticeboards

Please email us if you would prefer to print a PDF version of this poster.
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The Allotments Strategy...

Currently the Allotments Strategy 2023 to 2035 is still under review and is set to be finalised by the Council and is sheduled for publication during October 2023.

The draft from 2022 sets out several plans of how our allotments will be managed going forward.
Here are just some of the quotes from the draft.

Be informed by an up to date audit and assessment of the maximum potential of all existing land used for food growing and the potential for new land to be made available from public open space, smallholdings and land used for grazing. Propose where and how supply may be uplifted taking in to account local levels of demand, the relative costs and any potential impacts on current land function or tenants.

Promote the need to lower water consumption including recycling of rainwater on site and take further practical measures through investment to prevent leaks and loss through evaporation.

Encourage sustainable land management and cultivation practices.

We look forward to receiving the final version though from feedback it appears the draft has been considerably edited!

Nevertheless, it appears Council wish our plots to be  expanded but managed succesfully with a committment of plot holders to produce food. So of course for those tenants to succeed a supply of water, whether mains or rains is essential.

Yes, where water is concerned there is a health and safety issue of legionella which we as responsible plot holders must be aware of and cannot ignore. But it has to be said, without a managed water supply our crops will fail.

It could be argued whether the photo below may be controversial and should be included in this post as it may draw adverse actions from allotment officials. But it does highlight where water is frankly, an essential part of plot management.
Taken on 5/9/2023 the afternoon temperature was 29c, the thermometer placed into the mains fed water trough reads 26c. Whilst it is considered safe to dip a can into this trough potentially it could be home to legionella bacteria which can breed between 20-45c.

So do we in these hot conditions stop watering in case the droplets shown in the second photo with water from the warm trough could be inhaled by the user? And is there any diffrence with the third photo which is filling a can via a hose from a water butt?

As plot holders we wish to open constructive discussions with Bristol City Council allotments officers to agree how we use water on our plots during the next 15 years as defined in the Allotments Strategy 2023 to 2035.
To help us open negotiations please sign our petition. 

 

Bristol Allotments Hosepipe Ban

Bristol Allotments Hosepipe Ban

Because of a risk to hosepipe users
contracting legionnaires disease which may prove fatal,
a Bristol City Council hosepipe ban on our allotments asks more questions than it answers,
so is the ban justified?

Filling one of these cans with rainwater is banned on Bristol allotments.

So what are plot holders seeking?

Firstly, lets be clear. Those growing crops on Bristol allotments have no desire to water crops directly from a mains connected hose. 

The issue is, that having saved rainwater the Council do not permit a hose to be connected to a water butt which will aid distribution. 

Plot holders with infirmities consider they are discriminated against if they cannot carry cans of water from standpipes or mains fed water troughs over distances. 

Whilst the current situation prevails there is no incentive for plot holders to save rainwater.

 

Many, if not all local councils need to reduce expenditure and cut costs wherever possible so it seems ironic that our allotments officers inform us that in the year ahead £55,000 needs to be saved from their budget, increased rents of our plots is the most likely solution towards this essential saving.

Whilst the latest water bill across 4,000 plots in the city exceeds £60,000 and rising a reduction in its usage, which is achievable, will go towards that much needed saving.

Council insist that not because of cost but a complete ban using hosepipes of any description on allotments is justified as the user may inhale legionella bacteria from spray emitted by the hose.
The ban includes watering crops directly with a hose or filling water butts from a mains supply.
The ban also applies to draining stored rainwater from a water butt into a container through a hose.

Briefly Understanding Legionnaires Disease.
What the Royal Society For Public Health says.
In a study, Legionella were common contaminants of collected rainwater. However, the use of rainwater for common gardening activities should not be discouraged. Aerosolisation of Legionella when using a watering can is minimal and any increased risk associated with a hose pipe use can be mitigated by using a coarse spray setting.

Please take a moment to study the itemised pictures below.

1. Filling a watering can directly from a mains supply standpipe to water crops. Annual cost upwards of £60,000 annually or about £15 per plot.

2. Filling a watering can directly from a water butt of stored rainwater, the water stored inside is a potential source for legionella bacteria to develop. Apart from an initial cost of water butts and pipework to the plot holder the annual cost of collecting rainwater is £0.

3. Filling a watering can via hose connected to a water butt of stored rainwater, the water stored inside is a potential source for legionella bacteria to develop. Apart from an initial cost of water butts and pipework to the plot holder the annual cost of collecting rainwater is £0.

4. Rainwater stored in a water butt also has the potential to develop legionella bacteria. A can filled directly from the tap of the water butt with a rose fitted to the can will produce droplets and supposedly therefore is still a risk of inhalation but this practice is not banned. 

The pictures above asks three questions.
1. Is there any significant difference between no’s 1 and 2 (or 3) above?
2. Is there any significant difference between no’s 2 and 3 above?
3. What are the possibilities of inhaling water aerosolisation from no.4, whether the can has been filled by no.2 or 3 above?
Perhaps the most significant overall distinction of the four points is a difference in cost closely followed by if there is, any risk to health?

Fresh mains water is possibly our most valuable resource, we are fortunate there is a reasonably abundant supply, but it is not infinite and it is certainly expensive to produce. It is a cost which is included in our allotments rent. From our 4000 plots if each one saved on average two, 200 litre barrels of rainwater at any given time it would reduce mains water consumption by 1.6 million litres annually, a huge cost saving to be reflected in our water bill and possibly our allotments rent.

Using saved rainwater at peak growing times, particularly with extremes of heat as experienced in recent summers with predictions this will continue into the future will place huge demand on individual plot reserves.  

However, water consumption on allotments can be reduced by various methods to maximise use of harvested water supplies. Developing increased composting of plot waste for organic mulching is one option, this not only improves soil health but also eliminates the need of chemical fertilizers. Avoiding soil disturbance, or no dig as it is commonly known is proven to retain soil moisture and reduce weed growth is another.

Many will agree for various reasons that mains water consumption needs to be reduced and this is achievable, but only with structured dialogue between allotment managers and plot holders who have created a petition to overturn the current blanket ban of hosepipes on allotments.

If you may wish to support the petition, please Click Here.

The petition will close on 31st October 2023 and will be submitted to Bristol City Council on 14th November 2023 at City Hall, College Green, BS1 5TR.