The hosepipe ban

No hose pipe ban here in the Jura mountains, but water is expensive and we are all on meters. We have installed 3 x 1000 litre water containers, and already had a 500 litre one + bought a electrical pump so we can transfer water from one to t'other (the initial one being under the down pipe). As we have a big roof, it fills up in no time when we have a downpour.

Officially (irrespective of the ban) you shouldn't top up the pond with tap water as it contains chlorine and possible fluoride- so if I can I always top up with rain water (I know, easier said than done).

Well my garden pool had to be topped up 2" today due to evaporation.
I've had it two years now and I've never seen so many dragonflies and damsels in the whole of my life as I have in the last three days. They're lovely.

yes well I will resist the obvious answer

I am 'mixing my threads' (see help thread) here but if there is a god why didn't she make it rain every night between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00.a.m then we could all be happy!

What they want to discourage is people putting on hoses that just run for a long time or that spray water over lawns etc. Use a lot of water that way!
When I was working for Welsh water we once had an "incident" - lots of people without water due purely to the number of people putting on hoses and sprinklers in the evening. We had plenty of water upstream, no bursts or anything - but local storage reservoirs were emptying faster than they could be filled.
I noticed this morning that one of our local ponds that was brimful 3 weeks ago has dropped best part of a foot. We need some rain now to water the gardens ... there are showers and thundery downpours forecast midweek.

Just looked at Thames Water website but it still says no hosepipes for garden watering. Does not mention waterbuts. Blue badge holders exempt at home and at allotments. So will still be lugging watering can round to veggies this evening. We filled paddling pool on Sat & Sun to first 'ring' using buckets and pans then kids watered pots b4 tea using the pool water..all good fun for them..harder work for me!

I always understood that, during a ban, it was permitted to fill a water butt with a hose. ( I am Thames Water area) Like you, tanith I am coming to the end of the rain water. Unfortunately my outside tap is at the front of the house, so carting cans to the rear, then uphill would be exhausting.
I have tried to check about temporary displays but can't find anything. As you say,it would make life much easier. Could you post the relevant link please?