All I can say is that they seem to have a design fault. Or perhaps I should say the concept appears to be faulty. Fair enough, they fill when it rains. But then you use the water as soon as a drought begins, the dry period continues and the result is that are left with an empty butt because it hasn't rained again.
There's a man called John Harrison who runs an excellent allotment website and sends out a monthly email. He reckons we may be putting too much stock on watering.
This is what he has to say and I think it's worth quoting extensively:
When we get hot and dry weather, the temptation is to give the plot a sprinkle every day but that can be really counter-productive. A light sprinkle will hardly soak into the soil and so the plant roots will be encouraged to stay at the top of the soil instead of searching down. Shallow roots are easily damaged by hoeing and, of course, the nutrients at the top of the soil are quickly exhausted.
Don't try and water the whole plot in one go, take a section at a time and give that a really thorough soaking. That way the water goes down and the roots will follow. Even if it looks bone-dry on the surface, there may well be plenty of water underneath. Stick your finger into the soil and see if it is damp underneath. Honestly, most of the time it won't need watering anyway.
The exception to this is seedlings, they're obviously shallow rooted to start with and will benefit from a daily sprinkle until they establish. Hoeing between the plants will not only keep the weeds down but, because it breaks up the surface, preventing capillary action from sucking water out of the soil in hot weather.
It's best to water in the cool of the evening if you can and one great way to get water into the soil is to use soaker hoses. The water comes out slowly and soaks in rather than puddling.
Nothing is ever simple.
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