Thames Water to introduce hosepipe ban across four counties

Thames Water is introducing a hosepipe ban across Swindon, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire.

It comes after the Environment Agency placed the Thames area into its prolonged dry weather category, meaning there is a heightened risk of drought. The temporary use ban, in areas with a postcode starting with OX, GL, SN and RG4, RG8 and RG9, will come into operation at one minute past midnight on Tuesday 22 July.

About 1.1 million customers will be affected by the restriction, Sky News understands. Customers living in areas affected by the ban are asked not to use hosepipes, including for cleaning cars, watering gardens or allotments, filling paddling pools and swimming pools or cleaning windows.

But where water is central to businesses, the ban doesn't apply. Garden centres and car washes, for example, are exempt.

The ban currently doesn't apply to London. It follows the driest spring in over a century and England's warmest June on record.

Water for people in the Thames Valley area is extracted from the River Thames and stored at Farmoor reservoir in Oxfordshire. More dry and warm weather is expected and if it continues, Thames Water anticipates that reservoir levels at Farmoor will continue to drop.

Across the Swindon and Oxfordshire areas, customers' daily demand for water reached levels last seen during the 2022 drought. Customers often use up to 30% more water on hot days, namely when temperatures are above 25C, data by Thames Water shows.

Read more from Sky News:The volunteers leading fight against Trump's immigration raidsPolice announce plan to breathalyse passengers leaving airport Nevil Muncaster, strategic water resources director at Thames Water, 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. "Given the continued warm, dry weather we do not anticipate that the situation will improve any time soon, so we have to take action now.

"Every drop of water we use comes from the environment and we have to balance protecting this while taking out the water needed to top-up reservoir levels. "That is why we have had to make the difficult decision to implement a hosepipe ban to make sure there's enough water for customers' essential needs and to protect rivers." He added: "While this TUB (temporary use ban) will only affect customers in certain areas, I want to thank all our customers for their understanding and for their support so far to reduce their water use.

"This includes turning the taps off while brushing teeth, taking shorter showers and letting your lawn go dry.".