Drought and a hosepipe ban

Sir, – I have just returned from the Lombardy and Veneto areas of Northern Italy, where temperatures were between 30 and 40 Celsius, and where crops and gardens were being watered daily.

So why in our Emerald Isle, where we’ve had copious amounts of rain for most of the year, and have only a fraction of the population of those combined areas, do we have a hosepipe ban? – Yours, etc,

SUSAN MOFFETT,

Monkstown,

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Co. Dublin.

Sir, – It seems the large Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park is getting power-cleaned with water sprayed from a cherry picker (Ultan Ó Broin, July 5th). So is holy water exempt from the ban on excessive usage? Or are certain monuments just being “cherry picked”? – Yours, etc,

RONAN SCANLAN

Leopardstown,

Dublin 18.

Sir, – I find myself wondering at the selfish mentality of people washing their cars in a time when we have been specifically asked to conserve our water. For once, I cannot help thinking that it is not Irish Water that is to blame here. It is us, as a nation. Clearly, we should be paying water charges. – Yours, etc,

NIAMH NEUMANN,

Newcastle,

Co Wicklow.

Sir, – Imagine how much water could be saved if people desisted from the ridiculous practice of putting dishes under a running tap to make them “a little bit clean” before putting them into a machine designed to make them sparkling clean. – Yours, etc,

PAUL FARRELLY,

Blackrock,

Cork.

A chara, – I suppose if the weather forecast was for a few soft days we would be issued with a grey weather alert! – Yours, etc,

C NÍ MHAOLCHATHA,

Baile Átha Cliath 16.