Solar powered sprinklers

A solar-powered sprinkler system is coming to the assistance of gardeners whose prized blooms are wilting because of hosepipe bans. The system, designed and built in the UK, will allow the green-fingered to keep their plots fresh without having to make countless back-breaking trips to the tap with a watering can or risk sneaking out the hosepipe.

It will also allow allotment holders, whose vegetable patches are far from the nearest water supply, to irrigate their crop automatically. The system, launched last week, works by collecting rainwater in a butt or barrel. The water is then delivered to where it is needed with a pump powered by a small solar panel. Brian Burnett, the developer of the SolarFlow system and an irrigation expert from Gloucestershire, said he dreamed it up after competitors at flower shows complained that they needed a watering system which could work without electricity and just a small amount of water. "Gardeners would come up to me and tell me they needed an irrigation system that could be used where there is no mains water or only a limited supply and no mains electricity," he said. "Many found conventional watering systems were not suitable for the greenhouse or allotments." The water is collected in a conventional butt while a solar panel the size of a computer keyboard harnesses the power of the sun and stores it in a control panel.

Energy is then transferred to a pump submerged in the butt and water is directed to where it is most needed in the garden. Mr Burnett said: "It sounds simple but as far as we can see nobody has done it before. It's convenient, simple and environmentally friendly." Hosepipe bans are already affecting nearly 13 million customers in eight water regions in the south-east. Earlier this week government experts said the drought was spreading north into Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk. The Met Office revealed that rainfall in April was 25% lower than average and the Environment Agency said a hot dry summer would cause "widespread environmental impacts".

SolarFlow, which will be showcased at the Chelsea Flower Show this month, is said to be so efficient only a relatively small amount of water is needed - 80 litres could keep up to 150 plants, 30 hanging baskets or a small roof garden watered for up to 10 days. The flow of water can be controlled, allowing the garden to be watered once or twice a day for either five minutes or 10 minutes at a time. "The beauty is that no water is wasted," said Mr Burnett. "And as we are facing the worst drought in living memory gardeners need all the help they can get."