Hose pipe bans

Water companies have ways of dealing with long periods of dry weather. But sometimes we get a period of weather that tests these measures to the extreme. Garden sprinklers involve the greatest domestic use of water - up to 1,000 litres an hour - so restricting hose pipe use is an obvious way to reduce water consumption during the driest periods.

The winter of 2005 was the driest since 1976, when things got so bad that much of Wales and the West of England were left without water for much of the day. Household water supplies were replaced by communal standpipes in Yorkshire and East Anglia.

At the time of writing in summer 2006, groundwater, used for 70% of water supplies in the South East, is at a record low. As a result, the Environment Agency is supporting local water authorities in imposing hose pipe bans in the most affected areas. This is the first level on a scale of restrictive measures that are used to deal with water shortages.

If hose pipe bans are not sufficient, and drought orders on non-essential use do not help water availability, then water suppliers can apply for Scarcity Status. If the government grants this, then the suppliers can consider making meters compulsory for consumers. The theory is that this way people will waste less water and pay just for the water they actually use. Folkestone and Dover Water was the first supplier to be given Scarcity Status in 2006 and is rolling out metering in its region.

Some claim that compulsory metering could eventually affect the whole country unless we start to drastically cut our water consumption. In reality, switching to a meter could save you money, especially if you start using water efficiency measures.

South East England has had 18 months of below average rainfall. Water companies in South East England are imposing domestic hosepipe and sprinkler bans to help conserve supplies because we can’t predict how long the dry weather will last. From 3 April 2006, nearly 13 million people have faced a restriction on water use.

To find out if you are affected by a hose pipe ban, please contact your water supplier.