B&Q says that its sales are 196% up on this time last year following the announcement in mid March that seven water companies in southern and eastern England -- Southern Water, South East Water, Thames Water, Anglian Water, Sutton and East Surrey, Veolia Central and Veolia South East -- will be implementing bans, most starting on 5 April. The Environment Agency , the statutory body charged with managing water resources in England and Wales, says East Anglia and south-east England are in drought and warns that if dry weather continues this spring, it could spread north to east Yorkshire and west to the Hampshire-Wiltshire border. So hosepipe bans could become widespread. A ban prevents householders, with few exceptions, from using a hosepipe connected to the mains water supply for any domestic chores. It means you can't use it to water plants or clean cars, bikes, boats, garden furniture or any outside area such as patios or walls, nor to fill or top up swimming pools, paddling pools, or ornamental fountains and ponds unless they have fish or other aquatic animals living in them. Tens of thousands of litres of rainwater falls on your roof every year, enough to fill hundreds of water butts with free water, according to campaigning, not-for-profit organisation Waterwise.org.uk . So the message is: Get a butt and become a fan of the can. "Your hosepipe or sprinkler can use as much water in an hour as a family of four in a day. So swap your