Photo credit: Galina Kondratenko
Thames Water’s Temporary Use Ban came into force at 00:01 on Thursday 23 July, taking the number of people affected by hosepipe restrictions across England and Wales to about 23 million, according to the Guardian. The ban applies across Thames Water’s entire drinking water supply area, covering roughly 10 million customers in London, the Thames Valley and the Home Counties, and follows Environment Agency figures showing eight areas of England now in “prolonged dry weather”, the tier immediately below official drought. Breaching the ban carries a fine of up to £1,000.
Demand, not empty reservoirs
Thames Water has been explicit that the ban is being driven by demand pressures rather than reservoir levels alone. In its own announcement, the company reports water use running around 10% above normal in the Thames Valley and Home Counties and 7% above normal in London, equivalent to roughly 100 million extra litres a day, after a spring in which the region received only 40% of average rainfall and three official heatwaves. Nevil Muncaster, the company’s Director of Strategic Water Resources, said the restriction was necessary to protect supplies for everyone and the environment. The ban covers hosepipe use for gardens, cars, paddling pools and outdoor surfaces, along with sprinklers and pressure washers. Watering cans, buckets and grey water remain permitted, and businesses that use water as a core part of their purpose, such as garden centres and car washes, are exempt.
Nine bans and counting
Thames Water is now the ninth company to declare a Temporary Use Ban this summer, joining South East Water (whose Kent-only ban was extended on 20 July to Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire from 25 July), Anglian Water, South West Water in Mid Devon, Affinity Water Central, Cambridge Water, Southern Water in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Yorkshire Water and Welsh Water. United Utilities has said its own ban will come into effect on 5 August, according to the Water Industry Hub tracker. The National Drought Group has identified eight areas of England as being in prolonged dry weather, and Environment Agency data indicates six reservoirs are notably low, with one, Blagdon in Somerset, exceptionally low. Only 13% of monitored rivers are at normal flow.
No end date
The company has set no timetable for lifting the ban and will keep conditions under review, with restrictions expected to remain in place until sustained rainfall has replenished rivers and reservoirs. This week’s World Weather Attribution studyon the European drought suggests that the driver behind such conditions has shifted: even where rainfall is close to long-term averages, warmer air is pulling moisture out of soils and reservoirs faster than before, meaning the return period for events of this severity has shortened. That points to a summer pattern the sector will need to plan around rather than treat as exceptional.
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