The hosepipe bans people spent the spring hedging for have landed. After the UK broke its June temperature record — 37.3°C at Santon Downham in Suffolk on 26 June 2026, under a Met Office Red Extreme Heat Warning — on the back of the warmest spring on record, demand for drinking water has outstripped supply across southern England. Two water companies have now brought in Temporary Use Bans covering close to two million households between them, with more possible if the dry spell holds.
If you're in an affected area, here's what the ban actually means, what you can still do, and the small handful of jobs that are easier to sort now than in a panic once your hose is off-limits. If you're not under a ban yet, the same advice is worth a read — more companies are expected to follow if the dry spell holds.
Where the Bans Stand Now
Two Temporary Use Bans are now in force across southern England:
South East Water — Kent. Announced on 25 June and in legal effect from 3 July 2026, covering more than 850,000 customers. It applies to the Kent supply area only — not South East Water's Sussex, Surrey or Berkshire customers. The company asked people to stop using hosepipes straight away rather than waiting for the start date.
Southern Water — Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. A Temporary Use Ban from 00:01 on Friday 10 July 2026, covering roughly 1 million customers. The warmest spring on record followed by the June heatwave has left river levels around 25% below normal for the time of year — the River Test alone has lost a third of its water in the past month — putting pressure on the chalk streams of the Test and Itchen that supply most of the area's water. Southern Water's Sussex customers aren't affected.
Thames Water hasn't declared a formal ban but has urged customers to cut back on hosepipe use — often the step before a TUB. Reservoirs across the South East and East of England went into summer below normal, so more companies may follow. If you're a Thames Water or Anglian Water customer, it's worth assuming a ban is possible and getting ahead of the small jobs below.
The good news, if there is any: a TUB is far less restrictive than most people assume. Here's exactly what it does and doesn't cover.
What a Hosepipe Ban Actually Is — and Isn't
The official name is a Temporary Use Ban, declared by an individual water company under Section 76 of the Water Industry Act 1991. Only your water company can impose one. Councils can't. Defra can't. The Environment Agency can't. If you've got two different water companies serving water and sewerage, only the water-supply company's TUB matters for the rules below.
The standard TUB prohibits, on the mains supply:
Activities banned during a Temporary Use Ban:
- Watering a garden using a hosepipe
- Cleaning a private car, boat, or caravan using a hosepipe
- Filling or maintaining a swimming pool, paddling pool, or pond using a hosepipe
- Cleaning paths, patios, walls, or windows of a domestic property using a hosepipe
- Filling an ornamental fountain
- Cleaning artificial outdoor surfaces with a hosepipe
That list is taken straight from the Act. Individual water companies can vary the detail, so the official wording from your supplier is the version that counts.
What You Can Still Do
Quite a lot, actually. A TUB is a ban on the hosepipe — not on watering. You can:
Still allowed under a typical TUB:
- Use a watering can or bucket filled from any tap, at any time. No time-of-day limit.
- Use a hosepipe connected to a water butt. Rainwater isn't part of the ban.
- Use grey water (bath, shower, or washing-up water) on the garden, through a hosepipe if you want to.
- Water newly laid turf for the first 28 days using a hosepipe, in most company TUBs — check the specifics.
- Use drip irrigation fitted with a timer and a pressure-reducing valve, in most company TUBs (Thames Water and Southern Water both allow it). Always check the small print.
- Wash the car at a commercial car wash that recycles its water.
- Use a hosepipe to water plants in commercial settings — allotments and food production are typically exempt.
If you, or someone in your household, holds a Blue Badge or is on your water company's Priority Services Register, you may qualify for a personal exemption. It's not automatic. You'll need to register with the company in advance — most have a short online form. Some companies go further than the standard list: Southern Water, for example, also exempts customers on its WaterSure tariff alongside Priority Services Register customers with medical or mobility needs and Blue Badge holders. Check your own supplier's wording — it varies. Worth doing now, ban or no ban.
The Fine — and What Actually Happens If You Break It
The maximum fine for breaching a TUB is £1,000 per offence. In practice, prosecutions are rare. Water companies usually send a warning letter on the first complaint, and reserve formal action for repeat offenders or commercial breaches. That's the pattern from every recent TUB summer. It's still a real fine, and it does land on a small number of people each summer.
How Much Notice You'll Get
The legal minimum is a 14-day public consultation window between a water company announcing a TUB and it taking legal effect. In practice the announcement-to-effect window has run between 10 and 21 days in recent years.
By the time you read about a TUB on the BBC, you have about two weeks before it bites. That's enough time to do the small jobs that get harder once your hose is off-limits.
Five Things Worth Sorting Now
These aren't dramatic. They're the small jobs that move from easy to annoying the day a TUB lands.
Do these before — or in the first week of — a hosepipe ban:
- Get a water butt fitted before the rush. A 200-litre butt with a downpipe diverter runs roughly £40–£90 installed if you're doing it yourself. The week a ban is announced, prices spike and the cheap ones sell out. A 50m² roof captures around 30,000 litres a year — enough to keep a small garden alive through most of a summer.
- Register for the Priority Services Register if you're eligible. If you, your partner, or someone living with you has a disability, is a Blue Badge holder, has a serious health condition, or is over state pension age, you can register for free with your water company. It's the route to a personal TUB exemption if one is needed.
- Wash the car this weekend, not next. Once a TUB lands, the only legal way to wash it on your driveway is a bucket and sponge. A proper clean now buys you a couple of months.
- Get a watering can with a fine rosé and a long-spout one. If you've been getting away with the hose for evening watering, a TUB summer means you'll be doing it by hand. A proper 9-litre can with a fine rosé and a long-spout 5-litre for tight spots makes it bearable. Twenty quid the pair.
- If you're booked in for any pressure-washing work, bring it forward. Patios, decking, driveway cleaning — these are all banned for domestic use during a TUB. Window cleaners and patio specialists working commercially are exempt, but they get rammed in the weeks after an announcement.
What to Do If a TUB Is Announced
When the announcement lands, the things that matter most:
Your post-announcement checklist:
- Check the start date and your supplier. If you're on the boundary between two companies, only the ban for your water supplier applies to you.
- Read the specific list of restrictions. Some companies tweak the standard wording — paddling pools and drip irrigation are the two areas where rules vary.
- If you've already paid for a TUB-banned service (turf laying, pressure washing, lawn treatment), call the contractor. Most will reschedule or refund.
- Don't bother trying to argue with the rules. The legal mechanism is straightforward and the £1,000 fine is real, even if rare.
The longer-term play, particularly if you're in the South East or East of England, is to assume some form of summer water restriction is going to be part of the new normal. The 2002–2021 stretch of relatively benign UK summers is over. Building a small amount of water resilience at home — a butt, a couple of cans, a grey-water plan for the garden — turns the next TUB summer from an event into a non-event.
While you're getting ahead of the summer admin, it's also worth a look at how to keep your house cool in a heatwave without air conditioning — same weather, same week, same kind of small-jobs-now-not-later thinking. And if you want context on the wider squeeze on household bills this year, our piece on every bill that went up in April 2026 covers the rest.
A hosepipe ban is narrower than people assume — watering cans, water butts and grey water are all still fair game. You get about two weeks' notice before one bites. Use that window: fit a butt, register for the Priority Services Register if you're eligible, wash the car, and bring forward any pressure-washing jobs. Do that and the next TUB summer becomes a non-event.