The Guardian reported recently on the spread of wild boar in this country as our climate has become warmer. Our clement weather means we should keep an out eye for a new species of pig - the waterhog, writes Charlotte Moore.
This is not a marsh-loving relation to Africa's sharp-tusked warthog but the latest twist in the hosepipe ban saga. Three Valleys Water has posted a form on its website that allows its customer to report any "irresponsible water user" - aka "waterhog" - in their community.
This strikes me as a spectacularly bad misreading of the impact of the hosepipe bans on Britain's collective consciousness. The hosepipe ban has united public opinion, but communities are not standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the water companies in the quest to conserve water. No, they are lining up to pour opprobrium on the same companies whose bans mean that lawns will turn brown and vegetables wither while truly mind-boggling quantities of water are lost through leaks every day.
Thames Water says that it has no such plans. "We're not encouraging neighbours to spy on one another," a spokesman told us. But do let us know if other companies have similar plans to set members of communities at loggerheads with each other.
Such is the craziness of the law that hosepipes cannot be used to water plants, but patios can still be cleaned. The Horticultural Trades Association has a good list of the dos and don'ts of the hosepipe ban. The list would be handy if you plan to report your local "waterhog" - for example, filling a swimming pool is a perfectly legitimate activity.
There are, of course, winners in all of this. Tesco, for example, says sales of watering cans have risen by 68%. Maybe sales of water butts will soar over the coming months as we all squirrel away our precious rainwater. You can even buy "decorative butts" which, are not, as some may think, a plaster-cast of J-Lo's behind, but a natty terracotta version of the usual green plastic tank to collect rainwater.
