Millions of people in London, the south-east and elsewhere in England are facing the possibility of a ban on hosepipes. Thames Water announced Tuesday that it was the fourth company to announce restrictions due to unusually hot and dry weather conditions.
The UK’s biggest water group, which serves about 15mn customers, said it would announce a temporary use ban “in the coming weeks” given the long-term forecast for continued dry weather and the heatwave expected this week. The exact timing of the ban — and the number of people it will affect — have yet to be confirmed.
Last month was the driest July in England since 1935, and the Environment Agency last week warned that if the dry conditions continued “many parts of England will move into drought”.
Thames Water’s announcement came a day after the government issued a yellow heat warning for large parts of England. This is the second highest level possible. It indicates that the need to prepare for heatwaves and potential health risks.
Temperatures could this week reach the mid-30Cs in the south, according to the Met Office, Britain’s national weather and climate service, though they are not expected to exceed the record high of 40.3C set last month in Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
The National Drought Group — which brings together the Environment Agency, government, water companies, the National Farmers’ Union and industry and environmental groups — is due to meet this week. Last month it urged people to “use water wisely”.
Southern Water, South East Water and Welsh Water announced temporary hosepipe bans that will affect approximately 2.4mn people across England & Wales once they take place.
Thames Water said details of its ban had yet to be confirmed “due to a number of operational and legal procedural requirements” and that they would be announced “at a later date”. The company stated that it was urging customers to limit their water usage in the meantime.
The series of hosepipe bans are the result of a prolonged period of hot and dry weather, which has depleted reservoir and river levels and increased households’ demand for water. Thames Water last Wednesday stated that the demand for water had reached its highest point in over 25-years, and that supplies were lower than normal.
Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at Reading university, said that “while there are different definitions of drought, we are clearly facing drought conditions in many parts of England”.
“Water levels in several major river systems are very low. Some upper parts of rivers, including the Thames, have dried up almost completely,” she added.
George Eustice, the environment secretary, on Sunday urged more companies to introduce bans “to protect and preserve our water supplies during this exceptionally dry period”, but the decision to do so rests with individual water groups rather than ministers.
Thames Water’s drought plan includes the use of its desalination facility, which removes salt from water, in east London when supplies are more constrained than normal. However, the company announced this month that the facility would be out of service and not operational until next year.
“Our teams are working as fast as possible to get it ready for use early next year, to achieve protection to our supplies if we were to have another dry winter,” it added.
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