Anglian Water announces hosepipe ban for region including Luton, Milton Keynes and Northampton

Water company Anglian Water has introduced a hosepipe ban across the region it covers, including Milton Keynes and Northampton.

The company, which is one of the UK’s largest water providers, announced their Temporary Use Ban restrictions in the wake of a lengthy period of hot and dry weather across their region.

The ban affects customers in Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Lincolnshire. The announcement is the first issued by Anglian Water in 14 years.

The company said the temporary restrictions will be implemented immediately and enforced from 1am on Saturday 11th July, and that in order to help protect water supplies and the environment, the company is asking customers to live within the spirit of these restrictions immediately.

Anglian Water said that the terms of the ban means that customers should not use hosepipes for watering their gardens, washing cars, patios and boats or filling swimming and paddling pools.

Under the terms of the ban, there will be a small number of exceptions to protect jobs, livelihoods and those who are most vulnerable. Customers can still water their gardens and grow their own fruit and vegetables if they use a watering can instead of a hose or sprinkler.

At present, the ban will only apply to the domestic use of hosepipes for things like gardening, washing cars and windows, and filling paddling pools or hot tubs. A Temporary Use Ban can only be applied to domestic customers, rather than commercial customers.

Anglian Water said, “This decision to introduce the ban follows months of prolonged dry weather, warm temperatures and three successive heat waves, which have seen the company producing 30% more water than usual, as well as heat-related challenges affecting normal water treatment and production.

“The Environment Agency reported this week that the majority of rivers across the region served by Anglian Water are below normal in terms of flow, with a number at notably low or exceptionally low levels, after only 39% of the expected rain fell this spring. Anglian Water’s reservoirs are also less full than usual for this time of year, with storage levels dropping quicker than expected. While the decision has not been taken lightly, proactively introducing a Temporary Use Ban will help to protect the environment as the hot, dry weather is expected to continue through the summer.”

Dr Geoff Darch, Head of Strategic Asset Planning for Anglian Water, said, “This year has been exceptionally hot and dry and we’re already into the third heatwave of the summer. Understandably customers have wanted to stay cool and have fun in the sun, and our teams are working 24/7 to keep taps flowing across the region, but the unrelenting conditions are placing the environment and water supplies under increasing strain. Every day of sustained hot weather increases the challenge of balancing supply and demand, and we are now at the point where we need to ask customers to help by hanging up the hosepipe, letting lawns go brown, cars go dirty and using water even more wisely to help protect the environment and ensure water remains available for all customers.

“As the driest region in the country, and the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Anglian Water is well versed in preparing for periods of prolonged dry weather and we invest hundreds of millions every year to build our region’s resilience against the challenges we face – investments such as installing 1.5m smart meters, our mammoth 300km strategic interconnecting pipeline, which is already delivering huge benefits for drought resilience in Ipswich and Colchester, and replacing 1,000km of water mains to reduce leaks and bursts. Because of similar investments in previous years, we haven’t needed to implement a hosepipe ban for more than a decade.

“Implementing a Temporary Use Ban for our customers has been a very difficult decision to make and one which we have not taken lightly but protecting supplies to our customers and protecting our region’s precious environment in the face of such unusually hot conditions and high demand means doing everything we can to limit our non-essential water use as much as possible. We are grateful for everyone’s support.”

Daniel Johns, Managing Director of Water Resources East, added, “It takes a pretty extreme combination of circumstances to require Anglian Water to impose a temporary hosepipe ban, but that’s exactly what we have. Given the continuing heatwave conditions and heightened customer demand, combined with another dry spring, imposing a temporary usage ban now is the right thing to do to protect the environment.

“Anglian Water has the lowest leakage of any water and sewerage company in the country and has done the most to roll out smart metering across its customer base. Everyone has a right to world class drinking water but we must also all take responsibility to use it wisely, especially in heatwave conditions when nature and the environment are at their most vulnerable.”