What You Can Still Do Under the Ban
Published:
A Water Conservation Order restricts the hosepipe, not water itself. The exemptions are wider than most people expect, and Uisce Éireann frames the Order around cutting non-essential use rather than stopping people watering at all.
Still allowed
- Watering the garden with a watering can or a bucket, at any time.
- Reusing household water (for example water used to rinse vegetables or dishes), which Uisce Éireann encourages.
- Topping up a fish pond, which is excluded from the pond ban.
- Filling a small pool using hand-held containers filled directly from a tap.
- Commercial use of an ornamental fountain.
- Using water from a private well or rainwater butt, which is not mains water.
Banned
- Using a hosepipe to water a garden.
- Using a hosepipe to wash a private car or a private leisure boat.
- Filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool (except the hand-held-container method above).
- Filling or maintaining a domestic pond, other than a fish pond.
- Filling or maintaining an ornamental fountain, other than for commercial use.
Your lawn does not need saving
Irish lawns are cool-season grasses (perennial ryegrass, fescues and bentgrass). In a dry spell they brown off to protect their crowns and green up again within a few weeks of rain. Stop feeding, raise the mower, and let the lawn go dormant rather than trying to keep it green. If you want to keep a few areas alive, a watering can in the early morning is enough. For the penalties if you do use a hosepipe, see the fine explainer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a watering can during the hosepipe ban?
Yes. The Water Conservation Order restricts the hosepipe, not the water. Filling a watering can or bucket from the tap and watering your garden is allowed at any time, and Uisce Éireann actively encourages reusing household water such as water from washing vegetables or rinsing dishes.
Can I top up my fish pond?
Yes. Fish ponds are excluded from the ban on filling or maintaining domestic ponds, because the fish depend on the water. Ornamental ponds without fish are covered by the ban.
Can I fill a child's paddling pool?
A small pool can be filled using hand-held containers filled directly from a tap. Filling or topping up a paddling pool or swimming pool with a hosepipe is banned.
Are businesses affected?
The Order targets non-essential domestic and non-commercial use. Commercial use of an ornamental fountain is excepted, for example. Group Water Scheme customers, who are supplied by community-run schemes rather than Uisce Éireann, are outside this Order; check with your scheme.