HOSE RAGE IN SYDNEY

[AussieMark]

Hose rage in Sydney

TWO neighbours in a Sydney suburban street came to blows yesterday in the city's first reported case of "hose rage" caused by tempers flaring over water conservation.

As Sydney Water revealed thousands of residents are reporting water restriction breaches by neighbours, one pristine front lawn became an urban battlefield for a new suburban phenomenon.

At Ingleburn, in Sydney's southwest, things turned ugly when a dispute over hosing the garden yesterday resulted in an assault and a dousing for two neighbours.

Freeman Circuit resident Terry Briggs claimed he was involved in an altercation after being accused by his neighbour, Daniel

Crowden, of watering his lawn illegally. Mr Crowden took photographs of the alleged offence and vowed to expose his neighbour's deeds to Sydney Water.

When he then threatened to churn up the immaculate lawn with his sports car, Mr Briggs reacted by spraying him and his car with his hose.

Mr Briggs, who prides himself on having one of the most beautiful lawns in his street, claimed he then came to blows with Mr Crowden.

"I was watering my garden with a hand-held hose and he backed out of his driveway and said I wasn't supposed to be doing that," Mr Briggs said.

"He then took out a mobile telephone and said 'I'm taking your photograph and I'm sending it to the Water Board'."

After a threat to destroy the lawn Mr Briggs pointed his hose through Mr Crowden's car window and doused him.

"I love my lawn, I've got a beautiful lawn," he said.

Across the road, Mr Crowden claimed he suffered an injury to his arm from another man after he jumped out of his wet car to confront Mr Briggs.

"He hosed inside my car, he soaked me," Mr Crowden said.

"As far as I'm concerned, I believe water restrictions mean you can't stand there and hose your grass."

Hosing a lawn is not in breach of the regulations.

Despite more than 2000 complaints being made since the restrictions came into force on October 1, Sydney Water said there had been no reported cases of violence among neighbours who "dob in" each other.

"We're getting the opposite reaction actually," Sydney Water spokesman Colin Judge said. "People aren't necessarily overjoyed when we pull up and caution them, but there has been no violence."

There have been incidents in other parts of NSW, however, with Gosford man Steven Wilkinson sentenced to two months' jail in January after he assaulted his neighbours for washing their car.

Meanwhile Energy and Utilities Minister Frank Sartor has pleaded with Sydneysiders not to become "water vigilantes".

"It is encouraging that people are so passionate about water conservation but I don't want them to take it too far," he said yesterday.

"I don't want them to start setting themselves up as police. We've got patrols and council rangers and systems in place to address these issues.

"I want to come out against vigilante behaviour . . . I ask people to exercise a bit of common sense and restraint."

Mr Sartor was speaking after hearing of Sydney's first reported case of hose rage in the city's southwest.

Sydney Water issued the first $220 fine to a Cremorne householder at the weekend for using an automated sprinkler system and 50 water rangers are on patrol across the city, Illawarra and Blue Mountains regions.

A spokesman for the water authority said 2200 people had called in with complaints about water wasters since the beginning of October and nearly 60 warnings had been issued.

Mr Sartor's comments came as landscapers said they had suffered a downturn in business since the introduction of the water restrictions and were concerned about the effect the summer heat will have on them.

Tim Buckle, director of the NSW-based Landscape Contractors Association, said gardeners had so far been spared by regular rainfall since the restrictions came into force.

But Mr Buckle said professional landscapers were annoyed they had little consultation and only limited exemptions from water restrictions.

Anecdotally, he said landscapers had suffered a 30 per cent downturn in business and nurseries were also suffering because people were reluctant to buy plants.

"We certainly feel we've been hard done by," Mr Buckle said.

Car wash businesses have reported a surge in trade because of bans on people washing cars with a hose and a recent dust storm which blanketed the city with orange dust.

The "sunburnt country" and "wide brown land" that Dorothea McKellar enshrined in poetry is yet to dampen glossy magazine images of real estate fringed by lush gardens.

Ray Basha from RB Kanangra Landscapes said he liked to use native plants, but customers often demanded thirsty exotic plants.

"I'm not sure native plants are [marketed] yet as a way of enhancing a multi-million dollar home," Mr Basha said.

Landscapers have been granted a five-week reprieve from water restrictions for newly planted gardens, but only for large-scale developments or where new turfing exceeds 150sq m.

Sydney Water spokesman Colin Judge said voluntary restrictions had been in force since November last year and horticultural industries were consulted about the cuts.

"We are only looking at new developments, we would not encourage people to dig up their lawns and put in new ones in the middle of the drought," Mr Judge said.

Drip systems are allowed but Mr Buckle said they tended to just leach straight through Sydney's sandstone-based soils.

[coriolis]

Wow, talk about gettin "hosed."

I've heard that water will be the next resourse that causes wars.

[stormchazer]

Wow, talk about gettin "hosed."

I've heard that water will be the next resourse that causes wars.

LOL