Hosepipe Ban Hits a Million Southern Water Customers Next Friday
Southern Water announced a hosepipe ban covering about one million customers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight from Friday 10 July — the second consecutive summer of restrictions — saying levels in the River Test are “critically low”. Customers are asked not to water gardens or fill paddling pools. The ban follows South East Water’s existing restrictions, and comes as yellow heat-health alerts across southern England begin at midday tomorrow.
Two water companies restricting supply in the same corner of England before mid-July points at the structural problem: abstraction from chalk streams and reservoir capacity that has not kept pace with population growth in the driest part of the country, now stressed by a summer heading for its third heatwave. For Southern Water the timing compounds a reputation already under regulatory pressure. England’s hottest June on record has pushed demand up at exactly the moment river levels fall. Watch whether other companies follow before August, and how water-industry accountability features in the new government’s agenda.