Watering Bans Expand To Include 1 In 7 Residents Of England; Rainfall Apr-Jun Down 37% From Historical Average

Southern Water has become the fourth English utility to issue a hosepipe ban, taking the number of people hit by such restrictions to about 8.5 million. The latest ban, which comes into force for about 1 million residents across large swathes of Hampshire and all of the Isle of Wight from 9am on Monday, comes after Yorkshire, Thames and South East Water announced similar measures.

The Southern Water areas with restrictions are mostly supplied by rare chalk streams, the River Test and the River Itchen, which the company said were at “critically low levels” – down 24% on normal flows for this time of year.

One in seven people in England are now prohibited from using hosepipes to fill paddling pools, water gardens or wash cars after some areas faced the driest spring on record. People who flout these bans can be fined up to £1,000.

Yorkshire Water has blocked hosepipe use for its 5 million customers, South East Water for 1.4 million people in its Sussex and Kent regions and Thames has done the same for 1.1 million living in its Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire postcodes.

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