South West Water Imposes a New Hosepipe Ban
South West Water became the latest company to restrict supply, imposing a hosepipe ban across parts of Devon from midday today as the drought deepens, after demand ran millions of litres a day above normal through two heatwaves in three weeks. It joins bans already in force across the East of England, Cambridge, Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, with further restrictions from other suppliers due later this week, taking the number of people affected towards eleven million.
A ban in the usually wet South West is a striking marker of how far the drought has spread, and how quickly a dry winter and a run of heatwaves have drained a system with little slack. Hosepipe bans are a blunt instrument — outdoor use is a small share of demand — but they protect reservoir levels and signal that the shortage is real. Behind them lies the structural failure for which the water companies are being pilloried: decades of under-investment in reservoirs and leaking pipes, now colliding with public fury over sewage and executive pay. A formal drought declaration by the Environment Agency would bring tighter rules and more scrutiny, handing the incoming government an early test on a sector in crisis. Watch whether Thames Water hardens its advisory into a ban, whether drought is formally declared, and how many more suppliers follow before the autumn.