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You
can imagine how virtuous I felt back in April 2006 when I fell for a special
offer from South East Water and ordered a water butt. I was going
to help solve the drought, the price was keen and a free watering can
was included. Perfect. Placing the order with the makers by phone was
quite easy because they had an automated order recording system; but it
left one with the uneasy feeling that perhaps it had not registered. No
acknowledgement came, so I spoke to a human (after the customary 'we are
experiencing a high volume of calls' and so on). The lady proudly told
me that they had had so many orders that they were getting a new moulding
machine. It turned out that all the water companies had arranged the same
offer with the same maker, so no wonder they were busy. That done, I knew
it could take 28 days to see a result.
They took my money, then sent a letter on about the 27th day explaining that I must wait another 6 weeks. That took us into July when, you will remember, it was seriously hot and dry. I then rang again. Soon after, it arrived by white van: "the last one", said the driver. Sadly there was no free watering can and I could not find the nut which holds on the tap.
Having got over that, the thing was fairly easy to install, though you do have to be careful to get the water-gathering gizmo in the right place in the gutter downpipe. More of that little gizmo in a minute. The sun beat on my empty barrel day after day. Suddenly, one night, there was a respectable fall of rain and, to my surprise, the butt filled completely – 190 litres or 42 gallons all at once. That is about 20 cans-full, so was pretty useful. When I say 'cans-full' I am not referring to the free can they eventually sent which is about the right size for a 5-year old playing gardeners.
Moving on to September, we have had three cloudbursts here in the last few weeks, creating torrents of water from the gutters. Each time there has been a flood in the kitchen which, each time, occurred just after a meal. Just after a meal is certainly not the best moment to be taking the plinth front off kitchen units and mopping up underneath. I suspected that we had water rising like a spring through the floor from the drain-gully or its underground pipe, but I wasn't sure. I did wonder whether it was anything to do with the butt, though I could not understand how.
Given a nudge from my helpmate, I was quick enough on the third occasion to go out in the dark and the storm to take a look. Water was streaming down the outside of the kitchen wall and into a ventilator. Guess where from. The water-collecting gizmo, inserted in the rainwater downpipe, cunningly fills the barrel to the brim, after which excess overflows and continues down to the drain. It works well until an exceptional volume of rain falls, at which point it shoots four fountains of water upwards and sideways. In truth I wish I'd never seen the water company's irresistible offer.
Sent in by Richard C. Harden
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