Hosepipe bans have been introduced across England as Britons battle with consecutive heatwaves this summer and temperatures surpassing 30C.
A fourth heatwave could hit parts of the UK this week with temperatures predicted to climb to 29C in south east England on Thursday and Friday and then it might reach 28C on Saturday.
After the driest spring since 1893, swathes of the country are suffering drought conditions and water shortages.
It has left nearly seven million Brits, which is more than 10 per cent of England’s population, facing restrictions on how they can use their water.
Southern Water has become the latest utility firm to announce a hosepipe ban, with almost a million of its customers in southern England hit by the new restrictions.
The hosepipe ban will come into effect in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight from 9am on Monday, the company said in a statement.
Thames Water announced earlier this week that a hosepipe ban would come into effect across much of Swindon, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire.
Beginning on 22 July, it will affect all OX, GL and SN postcodes, alongside RG4, RG8, and RG9 postcodes.
Announcing the ban, Thames Water said the UK has “experienced one of its warmest and driest springs in over a century” in 2025, adding that “June was also England’s warmest on record.”
“That’s why we need to bring in a hosepipe ban. It will help protect the environment and make sure there’s enough water to go around this summer.”
South East Water announced on Friday that 1.4 million of its customers in Kent and Sussex have been placed under a hosepipe ban after record levels of water consumption.
The water provider said that demand across the two counties had reached “the highest levels” this year and had “now reached a point where they have exceeded the limits in the company’s drought plan”.
They added that on 30 June, they supplied 680 million litres of water, more than 100 million litres more than the daily average for summer.
Just hours before that announcement, another hosepipe ban came into effect across Yorkshire, affecting 5.5 million residents.
Yorkshire Water said the region had both the driest and warmest spring on record this year, receiving just 15cm of rainfall between February and June, less than half the level expected in an average year.
Water demand had also been higher than usual, the company said, leaving reservoirs at 55.8 per cent full, which is 26.1 per cent lower than normal.
In late May, the Environment Agency also placed northwest England under “drought” status.
They said at the time that reservoir storage levels were already lower than they were during the 1984, 1995 and 2022 drought years.
On Saturday, the Met Office recorded UK temperatures peaking at 33C in Ross on Wye, with further warm weather expected on Sunday.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) put large swathes of England on an amber health alert on Friday, with authorities warning soaring temperatures over the weekend are likely to cause a rise in deaths.
Regions spanning from the Midlands to the south are affected, including London. Only the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber have retained less severe yellow heat alerts.
These yellow alerts had been in place across England until Monday, but they were upgraded on Friday morning for the east and West Midlands, London, the east of England and the South East and South West.
The UKHSA says “significant impacts are likely” in the affected areas, including a “rise in deaths.”
