Floods

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'Bowser Babe' sent us this pic

Lighter side of the flood crisis

The floods which swamped Gloucestershire left many thousands without running water. But some locals found ingenious ways to cope.

Water-deprived Gloucestershire residents have been contriving some novel solutions to their predicament. From improvised gadgets to household modifications, inventive locals have sent us some very unusual ideas to help cope without running water. Here's a few examples...can you do better?

Living with floods >

Over the past week, most people in the county have learnt a new word: bowser.

The blue plastic barrels have become ubiquitous on the streets of Gloucestershire. Now the inevitable has happened - 'bowser spotting' has become a hobby, as evidenced by this section on the website Facebook (if you're not already a Facebook member, you will need to register to view this). You can also listen to John Rockley interviewing Leonie Smith about Bowser spotting around the county.

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A couple calling themselves Bowser Babe and Bowser Boy sent us photos of the T-shirts they'd had specially printed to hgihlight the bowser hotline number.

Bowser Boy in Cheltenham

They said: "Here in Cheltenham we decided it was about time we tried to bring a few smiles to local people who have so many awful things to deal wit in the hope that we can at least lift spirits and spread the news about the hotline telephone numbers. Hence the T-shirts".

1947 floods

The recent floods in Gloucestershire have in some places been more severe than the famous floods of 1947. You can watch a film from 60 years ago on the video sharing network Youtube by clicking on the link below. Do you recognise any of the places featured in the film? Please email gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk if you can identify any of the locations.

1947 floods (Youtube) >

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Water gathering

We've received a number of emails from users suggesting tips on collecting 'grey water' for use in sanitation.

"Given that there is more rain expected over the next few days and the fact that many of the bowsers are dry in the county, there are simple steps that can be taken to turn this around," wrote James Hiatt.

"Water from an ordinary drainpipe can be captured to fill up vessels in no time – the same principle as water butts (but this is an alternative as they are sold out in the county).

"We have taken the following steps:

Cut the main drainpipe
Attach a right angled pipe (available from hardware stores)
Link some plastic containers with water butt link pipes (by drilling into the plastic sides)

"This system allows the full container to overflow into the next receptacle and so on….

Paddling pool rain collector in Longlevens

"Our next door neighbours cannot collect water easily but have a paddling pool – we used a hosepipe to siphon the water from our ‘cascade’ into their pool over the wall. Collaborative working – we collect and they store.

"It would be useful to demonstrate on BBC and other programmes how people can help themselves and gather a good supply of water to be poured into toilet cisterns so that people can flush them in the usual way.

"We are looking forward to the next rain showers now."

Collecting

“Photos here show how much water can be collected in a few minutes from the rain today," wrote Terry and Jo.

"This was collected by disconnecting the down pipe and making use of everyday containers around the home. This water is used for flushing and boiled to use as washing water and cooking. Saves several trips to bowsers/supermarket.”

Top Tips

We've also been asking for you to send us your top tips to help with saving water and dealing with floods. Here are some of the best we've received so far:

Hope this may help people with gardens not flooded. When I was growing up we had no flush toilets, and the lavatory contents were buried in the garden. The garden flourished, my Father always maintained the garden was never the same when we got a flush! This is an environmentally sound and safe way to dispose of waste - from Sylvie Beckingham.
Suggestion for showering and washing. This is a simple solution for people to use on water bottles and is extremely effective. It helps control the flow of water from the bottle and also reduces the amount of water used. I have found 2 main uses: I have put one on a small bottle next to the sink as it allows you to use an amazingly small amount of water for cleaning hands, dishes etc. Without the top you use much more water. For showering - I used one on a 1.5 l bottle of water. I heated 1/3 of the water in the kettle then poured it back into the bottle. A had a very effective shower by holding the bottle upside down above my head. I collected this water in the bath so it can be reused in the toilet. About 10 holes are required. I used a 3mm drill end and it is very easy to drill the holes. I am not sure if a screw would work - from Francesca.
Those people lucky enough to have swimming pools or hot tubs can keep clean by bathing in them, they can also use the odd bucket of water from their pool or spa to flush the loo. At home I have diverted the down pipes from the guttering into large water butts and I will use the rain water that they collect to top up the hot tub to replace the water I have used to flush the loo. Others who are using their pools or hot tubs to keep clean should pay extra attention to the chlorine and ph levels as this kind of use is not what these products have been designed for. It must also be said that people should not use soaps and shampoos in a pool or hot tub as this in itself will ruin the water - from Jim Lamb.
Using the Toilet. Take a tip from a boat-owner: put used toilet tissue in a plastic bag and dispose of in the dustbin. It makes the toilet easier to flush with limited water supply - from John Silcock.
Why not go 2 public swimming pools or sports centres which are open i e. Ross on wye & use there showers - from Wolfie.
It's pouring with rain in Bishops Cleeve. I've got plastic carrier bags in the garden that are great for collecting the rain water - from Claire.
Rather than fill up at bowsers for loo flushing, myself and a colleague used Pittville Park's stream armed with a bucket so we can keep trading. It's about not being selfish and thinking of others at times like this - Anon.
Disconnect downpipe from guttering and collect today's rainwater in a container, this was a tip passed on to me yesterday and on a day like today we will collect gallons of liquid gold - from Ken.
A tip for washing young children and adults - my husband and I did this last night and it was brilliant I bought a watering can from town yesterday and 2 thirds filled a bucket with cold water and then boiled a kettle and filled the rest of the bucket (this was enough water to fill the watering can twice - enough for two showers) my husband then stood in the bath and I held the watering can above his head and he had a wonderful shower 1 watering can was enough to have a decent shower, I also left the plug in the bath and then used that water to fill the cistern to flush the toilet, try it - from Sue Beard.
We have been collecting rainwater in rubbish bins etc - at least we can flush the loos etc - suggest everyone else does the same and that will help - from Sally in Gloucester.

Have you got any more top tips? Use the form below to share them with everybody else...

last updated: 03/02/2009 at 13:16
created: 27/07/2007

Have Your Say

How are you coping after the flood? Send us your stories, hints and tips.

bob
cool!

John Tibbet
Does anyone know a good site to get information about this flood?

angela
i can't find the right words to say

David Kilburn
WOW!

David Kilburn
ha ha

armajit sing koonar
its many much wet isnt it

Jane Martin
Well done Bowser Babe and Bowser Boy for some welcome light relief - youve given me and everyone in my office the biggest smile of a grim fortnight. THANK YOU and keep up the good work BBC Gloucestershire

Paul Bennet
I found the kids paddling pool, fed by random pieces of guttering I'd been saving (for a 'rainy' day -chortle) filled up well. It held nearly enough water to clean the mess I made on my lawn.

Howard "H" Smith
Me and my wife like to be eco-warriors when we get the chance and have seen this crisis as a chance to strut our stuff. We have come up with several plans with varying results.My wife suggested sandpapering our Potatos,carrots and parsnips to save washing them for our sunday roast. We used a course grade sandpaper. Despite the veg being a bit gritty we will continue doing this until the crisis ends. My best idea was to grade our hunger on a scale of 1-10. 1 being not at all hungry and 10 being starving. If your hunger rates at 10 cook 2 carrots and 2 parsnips. If your rating is 1 then don't cook any at all. Simple. The other advantage is that you have no waste and save a fortune on your weekly shop!Not so successful was when we tried to minimise our drinking and body washing. I managed to go 24 hours without a drink of water. Although I reduced my personal burden on the planet I found I got a really bad headache. Exactly the same symptoms were endured by my wife so we are sure that the headaches were caused by dehydration.Not washing is becoming rather unpleasant as we enter the second week but we have at least got some sort of 'feel good factor' in that we are not adding to the crisis.We aren't perfect though as we still brush our teeth every other day!

Paul Bennet
I agree with gary about the enhanced potential for romance. After fleeing a sodden beer festival on Saturday night I danced the small hours away with a real doll!

Emily Spankhurst
Can't a woman even collect a basic necessity like water without some Tom, Dick or Gary trying to 'tap' off with her?

Nick Zaslawski, Zedfirst Plumbing & Heating Servic
Can I suggest that you advise listeners to check whether their bath water comes from a tank in the roof space? Some people do not realise that if this is the case, they may have water stored in the tank, which they can still use. I have spoken to several friends this morning, who have just found out that they can have a hot shower!

gary greenhouse
i have found that the queues for water at the bowsers and the supermarkets very good places to meet new people (including members of the opposite sex) as you have got something to chat about. Tonight I have got a hot date with one of my neighbours after chatting to her at an empty bowser!

tracey
at the start of all this i went to get some water for my family and an oap that i care for but i could not get any water for the oap and for my family at the same time why???????????????????? and can any one please tell me when cheltenham get there water back if you can bath in it if you get ezmar???????

Anon
Large bag of nappy wipes prove useful for a swift and efficient hand clean.

Nick
Collected enough rainwater from the down pipes to keep the toilet flushing and the washing machine washing over the last week - might install a rainwater tank permanently now and save a fortune in water costs.

Nikos from Bishops Cleeve
Getting well into the swing of this situation now. The exercise walking up to the village for bottled water is going me good. The bowser lottery is similar to the National Lottery (9 times out of 10 you win nothing). Flushing the toilet with rainwater and taking a "bird-bath" with only one pint of water has got to be really environmentally friendly, so I'm thinking about cancelling my subscription to Severn Trent altogether :-)

Andrea
Flasks of hot water by the sink for washing hands. Take one for the evening wash and it will still be hot for the morning

John
Tie a strip of plastic bag around your sink taps as a reminder that the water (when it comes back on) is not drinkable.

David Kempster
I do wish that the likes of Chris would stop MYTHEring. Spoilt brats are not helpful in our hour of need

Robin Knox
Pump action pressurised garden sprayers make very effective showers using a minimum amount of water. Available from all garden centres and large DIY stores. Just fill with 2 litres of warm water,pump up, then spray.

les
why is there no bowsers on whaddon road or around clyde cresent the nearest being about ten minuite walk

L
Something else that helps is a brick or milk bottle in the toilet systern so that it takes less water to flush.We all take water far too much for granted, maybe if the whole UK could have to cut down like we have over this last week and the week or so to come, as a whole we'd get through far less, and it would mean less work for the plants to clean it all, and cheaper bills.

Chris
We need a public enquiry to find out why Severn Trent did not have an emergency plan in place for the Mythe Plant was damaged/put out of action and to find out why they did nothing for at least 24 hours.

A colective of Brockworth residents
A very massive thankyou to Lance Townsend for letting us each have 5 litres of hot water this morning for 50p each (to cover costs). Once again Lance, thanks

Jonathan P
I have also followed the same route as many others and collected rainwater to use for flushing my toilet, a badly fitted piece of guttering and a spare dustbin did the trick. I would agree wholeheartedly with Nick, if nothing else the current situation has reinforced to the people of this area exactly how important water really is. Maybe the way forward is to encourage all builders of new homes to include "grey-water" collection for use as non-drinking water, anything where quality is not necessarily an issue, perhaps a government grant by way of encouragement. If nothing else the current situation has made me re-think how much water I really need to use and how I use it, I will not use clean water on the garden again, unless the dustbin runs dry. I have never been in favour of water metering, but now think that it may be the way forward, catch free water from the sky and reduce the amount you pay to Severn Trent.

graham ponting
I've got a brilliant tip. If you go to seven springs you can get as much water as you want without risking getting your head kicked in at the supermarket.

guy williams
i have starteted peeing outside in the drain. my wife and kids are using buckets. the toilet is only for our number twos!!

Jo and Lily Hicks
A big thank you to Michelle in Witney who did all our washing and a neighbours family too.It made our lives more bearable.

Claire Haslam
I agree with Nick Webster's comments. Lets hope that people are more careful with water in the future and that every new home is provided with a water butt. It's amazing how quickly ours fills back up even after a short shower. Hints and Tips - use frozen veg instead of washing the mud off fresh. Steam veggies to use much less water. Cover your baking trays with foil so you don't have to wash them - just discard or recycle the foil. Use an eco kitchen spray and paper towel to clean surfaces rather than a wet cloth. Use antibacterial wipes or gels instead of washing your hands so often.If you have a water butt and it has any water left in it, drain it out in to buckets so that it can refill in the forthcoming rain.Get your neighbours buckets ready as well, rain expected this evening.

Fiona Howard
I live in a flat in cheltenham and do not have the luxury of a drainpipe so I have put containers under my car in order to collect rain water. When if rains it works well.

Carl
I recently moved into a new house with a double detached garage - the previous owner had had a water but tucked behind but had taken it with them leaving just a little black diverter pipe protruding from the drainpipe from the garage... as a family with 3 children we had run out of water to flush toilets with and things were getting desperate on the toilet side,although we'd got just enough drinking water.. on Weds downpour i ran out to the wheelie bin,in desparation emptied it of the rubbish and could not believe that in less than 2 hours i had almost filled it to the top with jsut the rain from our garage roof!! As soon as we get back to normal i'm fitting an extra big water butt and another couple around the house in case of emergency... i never realised you could collect so much so quickly. I really do suggest people do the same...How about a government/council subsidised Butt Buying programme just as they do with home compost bins?

Village Resident
Its all starting to become routine. People near me are coping very well passing on latest news on full bowser locations and which roads are passable. There is still the odd incident of selfish behavior but most people are calming down now they can see the water arriving on a regular basis.I would hope this incident would show the whole community how reliant they are and how unknowing they are about where their utility supplies come from.I would like to see more planning on a local level for these events that global warming suggests will occur with greater frequency.

Karen H
We arranged the tarpaulin covering our garden furniture so the rainwater would collect in it. Got about 50 litres just from Thursday

Nick Webster
Wouldn't it be great if one outcome of this water shortage was a reduction in future water usage! I'm going to carry on flushing the loo with rainwater, and will also use it for washing the car and watering the garden. Wouldn't it be good if planning rules were changed to require new housebuilders to install water collection and cleaning for household use as standard?

John Clarke
Luckily I have an old well in my garden and I have brought a pond pump and filling the water butts of mine and the neighbours for flushing toilets

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