Using water to damp down dust during drought

[MantaRay]

There is quite a lot of nuisance dust at the industrial estate where I work. My employer has told me to damp it down using a water bowser/sprinkler [towed behind a motor vehicle] system that will be refilled using tap water from the site mains water supply.

During the current drought order, should I do this? If it is illegal then am I liable for proscecution or would the company be liable for ordering me to do it?

[EDDIE51]

As you are not using a hose connected to the tap it is perfectly legal. Anyway in your situation use of a hose could be justified as needed for Health and safety reasons. Not even sure the hosepipe ban effects industrial use in the first place.

[sddsddean]

Personally I wouldn't bother. I've over 30 years experience on construction sites where we do use bowsers a lot, but you use a hell of a lot of water and need a decent supply (like a river!) for the bowser to extract from. In weather like we have now, this is an ongoing problem as the roads dry out very quickly. You would do much better to hire a road sweeper to come and give the estate a once over to take the 'dust' away, rather than letting it dry out and get blown around again. Perhaps all premises on the site could chip in towards the cost.

[EDDIE51]

From a practical point of view I would agree that it is pretty pointless the water will dry within a few minutes and the dust just as bad.