The real water waste in Britain is not my hosepipe, writes Shelagh Fogarty

I came this close yesterday, though, almost in a fit of pique. At the bottom of the road I live on, there was a massive mains burst that lasted for more than two days. It sounded like a raging river.

Gallons and thousands upon thousands of gallons of water were pouring down the road, creating a literal spout of water and then, at the bottom, a small lake that nobody could make any use of.

Why it took two days to fix, I don't know. I am not sure they turned up quickly enough in the first place. But I would be very interested to know why it took so long.

I was tempted to go over there with a bucket and say: "Excuse me, mate, could you give me a bit of that?"

Because while all that water was pouring away, we were being told to save it.

The pressure in my area has been terrible as a result. My shower is basically spitting at me rather than giving me a full dose of water. And no, I don't stand in the shower for 25 minutes. I am perfectly aware of the simple tricks for not wasting water.

But when you see something like that, it does make you question how obedient we are expected to be.

We have been told to abide by hosepipe bans and other restrictions as parts of the country deal with drought conditions and high heat. And I understand why. You can't look at what is happening to our water supplies, or at the wider problems caused by the heat, and say there is no problem.

Farmers are struggling and we've seen fires spreading across huge areas of countryside. This summer is on course to be the hottest on record.

Meanwhile, we've all got our little instructions. Don't use the hosepipe. Don't wash the car. Be careful with how much water you use.

Fine. Not washing your car is hardly the end of the world.

My front steps are filthy. I've got five or six of them, whatever it is, and I've been cleaning them with buckets and brushes like my granny used to. They're covered in sand, dust, leaves and all the other things that land there in this heat. It's making the place look shabby.

Again, not the end of the world.

But I do think we are too passive, too obedient, when it comes to hosepipe bans and other restrictions, particularly when we see how much water is being wasted by the companies that supply it.

I know from conversations with friends, associates and people I've simply got chatting to that plenty of people are not abiding by the hosepipe ban. That doesn't necessarily mean they're flagrantly hosing their gardens for an hour every evening. You can do these things in moderation.

I've got two nine-litre watering cans. Every evening I dutifully fill them up and take them round the back to pour over my near-dead flowers and bushes. That's 18 litres of water just to keep my plants going.

Would I use hugely more if I did a quick five-minute whizz around with a hosepipe? I don't know.

Would huge amounts of extra water suddenly come out? I don't know.

And that's part of my problem with all of this. We are being asked to think very carefully about every litre we use while, at the same time, we can stand and watch thousands upon thousands of litres pouring down our roads.

And now we're hearing that swimming pools might be closed.

Well, that's the end of the world as far as I'm concerned.

If they stop me watering my flowers, I can't go for a swim, and my shower is spitting at me while a torrent of water is spouting at the bottom of my road, you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to use my hosepipe.

I might even use it to shower with.

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Listen to Shelagh Fogarty from 1-4pm Monday to Friday on the LBC app.

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