More than two million people across southern England will be banned from using hosepipes from Saturday after South East Water extended restrictions to Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire – blaming a drought that has left reservoirs at crisis levels.
The water company, which had already imposed a ban on its 1.5 million customers in Kent on 3 July, said the extra 1.5 million households now affected meant a total of 2.4 million people faced the temporary ban. It asked customers to stop using hosepipes immediately, even though the official start time is 00:01 BST on Saturday.
“South East Water expands hosepipe ban to 2.4 million as record dry spell empties reservoirs.”
Douglas Whitfield, South East Water’s water supply director, said the company was “deeply sorry” and “incredibly grateful to everyone helping us protect water supplies” after exceptionally hot and dry weather. The ban covers gardens, cars, patios, boats and swimming pools.
The move came as the region endured its longest unbroken spell of no recorded rainfall this century. Met Office figures showed an average of zero rainfall across central and south-east England for 14 consecutive days from 2 July to 15 July – the longest such run since 15 days in April 1997 for the south-east, and since 14 days in June 1996 for central England. Data for 16 July could extend the dry spell further.
Reservoir storage levels in England stood at 79% – five percentage points below the long-term average – with six reservoirs classed as “notably low”, including Wimbleball in Somerset, Grafham in Cambridgeshire and Hanningfield in Essex. Blagdon reservoir in Somerset was rated “exceptionally low”. South East Water said levels at Arlington Reservoir in East Sussex had dropped to the point that its drought plan required restrictions.
The region had received only 55% of its average rainfall since March, and Wisley in Surrey had seen no rain for 31 days. The UK record for the hottest day in June was broken on three consecutive days last month, reaching 37.3C, the Met Office said. So far in 2026, there have been 28 days when 30C has been exceeded somewhere in the UK – seven in May, eight in June and 13 in July – closing in on the annual record of 34 set in 1995.
Toby Cooper, landlord of The Bull in Tunbridge Wells, said recent water issues forced him to close on Saturday evening, losing between £5,000 and £6,000 in trade. “We understand there can be issues in infrastructure but this is the third time in a year that we’ve had to close due to a lack of water,” he said. “It’s getting very frustrating especially for a small business where every penny counts. Being closed – especially on weekends – really hits us hard.”
Eastbourne MP Josh Babarinde said he was “appalled”, calling the ban “the direct result of years of underinvestment in upgrading infrastructure and building resilience”. His criticism echoed that of Mike Keil, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water, who said South East Water had “a responsibility to get a grip of its network” and that people were “sick to death of living under a constant cloud of uncertainty as to whether their taps will keep running”.
The company’s financial troubles have compounded the crisis. It was ordered to spend £30.5m on improvements after investigations by industry watchdog Ofwat, and its annual report warned it needed to secure fresh financing to stay afloat after taking a £55m hit from outages over the winter. With no significant rainfall forecast and the dry spell continuing, the question is how long the ban will need to last – and whether the taps will stay on at all.