Liquid assets

IF YOU have a garden, you should have a water butt. Water falls from the sky for free for much of the year. All you have to do is save it in a big plastic barrel until it’s needed.

I have two 100-litre water butts attached to downpipes, a grey water collector to divert bath and shower water from the outlet pipe and two 250-litre butts in the garage.

During this long, dry spell, I have 700 litres of water for my garden. Using purified tap water to water plants is simply wasteful.

MIKE SIMPSON, Leicester. WE HAD the wettest winter in years, yet after a few weeks of dry weather we are threatened with a hosepipe ban.

We pay through the nose for water. The old water boards were virtually given to the private sector, which has not been responsible enough to build new reservoirs to cater for the increase in the population.

Oil and gas are transported in massive pipelines, so why not water from areas of high rainfall to drought-hit towns and cities?

R. JASPER, Exeter, Devon. FEAr of an imminent ban has triggered a frenzy of hosepipe use in my area: washing cars, watering gardens and cleaning windows.

The philosophy seems to be: use it now before it’s banned. The trouble is that my water will be cut off, too, and I’ve never used a hosepipe!

Name and address supplied.