The temporary use ban in Kent and Sussex has now been lifted. Thank you for adhering to restrictions and helping to keep the taps flowing for everyone.
We’re pleased to say that with immediate effect on 4 August, the temporary hosepipe ban has ended. Thank you, to our customers across our entire supply area, for your continuous efforts to save water.
Why has the ban been lifted?
The prolonged period of dry weather leading up to the hottest June on record led to record-breaking water use. We needed to supply up to an additional 138 million litres of water a day - equivalent to supplying four towns the size of Maidstone or Eastbourne. We were left with no choice but to introduce the temporary use ban to bring demand down to maintain supplies.
Since then, we have been closely monitoring our position, looking at several indicators to determine the appropriate time to lift the restrictions.
This included reviewing water demand levels as well as longer-term weather forecasts and resource availability all on a weekly basis.
We approached our reviews with a sensible degree of caution as we wanted to protect the water supply for all our customers and the environment.
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What is the current water situation?
The levels of our raw water, such as reservoirs and underground aquifers, are currently normal for this time of year.
Since the introduction of restrictions, we have also seen the demand for water reduce to more normal levels.
While this is the case, with the lifting of restrictions, we still encourage customers to be mindful of their water use and save water where possible.
It’s not just people who need these water sources. Trees, plants, crops, wildlife, livestock, fish, birds, and insects – indeed, all flora and fauna – depend on the same water to survive and thrive.
Our planet, the environment around us, needs us to care for it and protect it while we also fulfil our need for safe water to keep hydrated and clean.
There are lots of small ways to help save water in your home and garden. From making sure you're washing a full load, to reusing your cooking water to water your plants. And this can also save you money too, on your water and energy bills!
FAQs on lifting the hosepipe ban
The Temporary Use Ban (TUB) which has been in force since 26 June 2023, in the Kent and Sussex supply area was removed at 16:00 on 4 August 2023. There will now be no restriction on the use of hosepipes from that time.
Yes, when the Temporary Use Ban was put in place in June, we were experiencing record-breaking levels of demand for water. Since then, we have seen the demand for water reduce to more normal levels.
While this is the case, with the lifting of restrictions, we encourage customers to be mindful of their water use and save water where possible.
It’s not just people who need the same water sources. Trees, plants, crops, wildlife, livestock, fish, birds, and insects – indeed, all flora and fauna – depend on the same water to survive and thrive.
We did investigate all reports of misuse and can report that we did not get to the point in our enforcement policy where we needed to take legal action against any particular customer.
We followed our enforcement policy which we published on our Temporary Use Ban webpage.
We are committed to reducing the amount of water lost to leaks, both on our network and in customers’ homes, by 15 per cent between 2020 and 2025 as well as working to halve leakage by 2050.
To do this, we spend £40 million a year managing and reducing leaks and have 52 leak repair teams and 60 leak detection experts using innovative technologies in our supply region.
We’re also investing in our network, with more than £489 million being spent to develop new resources, extend and upgrade treatment works, and lay new water mains to reduce the risk of bursts.
Since introducing the Temporary Use Ban in June, we monitored the position closely, looking at several indicators to determine the appropriate time to lift the restrictions.
This included reviewing water demand levels as well the short, medium, and longer-term weather forecast and resource availability all on a weekly basis.
We approached our reviews with a sensible degree of caution as we wanted to protect the water supply for all our customers and the environment.
We removed the TUB once we were in a position to, after balancing all the above factors.
We have a draft Water Resources Management Plan which sets out how we will provide a reliable and resilient supply of drinking water for the next 50 years.
The draft plan has been through a public consultation and our statement of response and revised Water Resources Management Plan will be published on 31 August 2023.
We really appreciate you have taken steps to conserve water through water efficiency devices and hopefully, you took advantage of our subsidised water butts for our customers. The south east is a particularly water-stressed area and so we all need to keep doing our bit to conserve water where we can. If you are a metered customer, the ongoing use of your water butt will also help to keep you paying a lower bill.
If you are a metered customer, you are charged for your usage based on how much you have used. If you would have used a hosepipe during this period normally then you would have been paying for that usage as an additional volumetric charge which you will not have used.
If you are an unmetered customer, you are most likely to be a lower user of water as we cannot install a meter at your property. You are charged on an assessed basis of average use rather than your individual use. Therefore, no adjustments will be made to your bills.
Your standing charge covers costs such as meter reading and billing are the same no matter how much water you use or how you use the water that we supply to you.
A full list of any exemptions will be published at the time if we need to implement a Temporary Use Ban again in the future.