Thames Water issues hosepipe ban for 1.1m people

A hosepipe ban affecting 1.1 million people has been announced by Thames Water.

The water firm said the measure would come into place across Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire on 22 July due to a lack of rain and increasing demand, which had stretched supplies.

It bans the use of a hosepipe for activities such as watering the garden, washing the car or filling a paddling pool. People found to be using a hosepipe during a ban can be fined up to £1,000.

Thames Water said the temporary restriction would cover areas with postcodes beginning with OX, GL, SN, RG4, RG8 and RG9.

The ban does not affect businesses where hosepipe use is part of their purpose - for example, garden centres and car washes - but the company said everyone in the region should be "mindful" of water use.

It comes as the Environment Agency said it had declared a state of prolonged dry weather in large parts of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Surrey.

Thames Water said prolonged hot weather meant there was less water available as well as a higher demand, with customers using up to 30% more water when temperatures were above 25C.

Hosepipe bans are already in force for customers of Yorkshire and South East Water as a result of the dry weather, affecting 5 million and 1.4 million people respectively.

Nevil Muncaster, strategic water resources director at Thames Water, said he did not "anticipate the situation will improve any time soon".

"We have to take action now," he said.

"This has been a challenging spring and summer with big spikes in customer demand during hot dry days and very little rainfall to replenish local supplies in the Thames Valley."

He encouraged customers both within and outside the ban area to reduce water use, by doing things like turning taps off while brushing teeth, taking shorter showers and not watering their lawns.

The GMB Union called the hosepipe ban "disgraceful" given Thames Water had leaked 200 billion litres of water in the last year.

"Thats 570 million litres wasted every single day - the worst in the country," said national officer Gary Carter.

He said GMB members working there had "their hands tied" by "crumbling infrastructure and non-existent investment".

"For Thames Water to now impose a hosepipe [ban], while bills rocket, is disgraceful," he said.

Thames Water spokesperson said leakage across the network was at its "lowest ever level", but said it knew there was "more work to do".

They said technology such as acoustic loggers and smart meters were helping it fix leaks faster.

"Were fixing 650 leaks a week with our engineers targeting leaks with the greatest impact to local water supplies," they added.