23 October 2007
Tough new drought laws are to be brought in to protect the UK's water supply, with more stringent hosepipe bans to be applied.
Householders washing their windows, filling their swimming pools and cleaning their patios using the pipes will now be barred from doing so from next spring.
Currently, the bans only cover watering gardens and washing cars.
However, public pools and pools for other uses, such as in surgeries, are to be exempted from the new restrictions, Environment Minister Phil Woolas said.
Announcing the policy change, the minister said that "blatant anomalies" in the laws - which meant that "gardeners couldn't water their plants with a hosepipe, but their neighbours could power-wash their patios or fill swimming pools" - had now been addressed.
Currently, "people feel they are being unfairly singled out," he added.
In good news for water companies, firms will now be allowed to wield a "discretionary use ban", which will allow them to pick and choose which types of water activities they can prevent, depending on their need.
The BBC reports that in the two dry summers prior to 2007, hosepipe bans have affected around 13 million Britons.
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