Hose pipe ban is specifically for connecting hoses directly to the main...you can use a hose connected to a rain water catchment system no problem (at least that's my understanding).
Yes if you are using rainwater which living in Cornwall we usually have a lot of! Plus we have 7 or 8 200L waterbutts. You are usually allowed to use a watering can during a hose pipe ban so you could fill a water butt that way. If we need to transfer water from one butt to another, the two of can do of us can do it in a few minutes using only two buckets or watering cans.
How does it deal with particles , slime or growth in the water. All the low pressure dripper styles/type I tried all suffered blockages & slime deposits despite me using black neoprene pipe work throughout the system supplied by the same seller .
It appears not the goal post appear to have moved a long way for recently I heard on BBC TV news that in England no hosepipes are allowed or watering systems or car washing (or crop watering unless it is your business model i.e. farming market gardener )
Filling it with mains water in any form is not allowed neither is pool or pond filling .
I found that the seep hose eventually slimed up internally and stopped working
My neighbour connected his bath waste to a water butt through a pump. He bathed a lot.
Yea...but who's to say when the mains water was put there...maybe it was there before the ban
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Just think of the spuds you would get !
Ours has a simple gauze filter in the water butt. I clean it but it never seems that bad. I have it weigted down set so it sits about 4" off the bottom. It has a pair of electrical wires which cut the pump so it can't run dry. I test it out for a few days every year before leaving but the pipe and the drippers haven't blocked up so far. You can buy all the parts. I think I will replace it next year and use it as a backup or at least for something less important than the greenhouse.
