Southern Water has become the fourth English utility to issue a hosepipe ban, taking the number of people hit by such restrictions to about 8.5 million.
The latest ban, which comes into force for about 1 million residents across large swathes of Hampshire and all of the Isle of Wight from 9am on Monday, comes after Yorkshire, Thames and South East Water announced similar measures.
The Southern Water areas with restrictions are mostly supplied by rare chalk streams, the River Test and the River Itchen, which the company said were at “critically low levels” – down 24% on normal flows for this time of year.
One in seven people in England are now prohibited from using hosepipes to fill paddling pools, water gardens or wash cars after some areas faced the driest spring on record. People who flout these bans can be fined up to £1,000.
Yorkshire Water has blocked hosepipe use for its 5 million customers, South East Water for 1.4 million people in its Sussex and Kent regions and Thames has done the same for 1.1 million living in its Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire postcodes.
On Tuesday, the government said four areas of England were officially in drought status and urged more water companies to issue hosepipe bans. The government’s national drought group met on Tuesday to discuss its response to the prolonged dry weather, which has caused mass fish die-offs, low river flows, dangerous algal blooms and the beginnings of crop failures.
If the dry weather continues and the bans don’t work, more stringent measures could be implemented including banning the filling of public swimming pools and cleaning of offices. This came within weeks of happening in the drought of 2022.
This week the Guardian revealed England’s reservoirs were at their lowest levels for a decade. Levels have continued to drop dramatically as the hot weather has increased demand for water and there has been very little rain to refill reservoirs.
Last year the government and water companies announced proposals to build nine new reservoirs by 2050. No major reservoirs have been completed in England since 1992, shortly after the water sector was privatised.
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Southern Water’s managing director, Tim McMahon, said: “We have to respond to the widespread and prolonged dry weather affecting our region.
“In our case, this means a hosepipe ban for our customers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, to protect the health of our amazing chalk streams, which as one of the rarest habitats on Earth has been compared to the Amazon rainforest.
“We must act now to support the wildlife that live there, including Atlantic salmon and southern damselfly.”