Now London faces hosepipe ban: 24m Brits to be hit with restrictions 'by the end of the week'
15 August 2022, 19:24
Millions of Brits face fresh water restrictions as Londoners are expected to be hit by a hosepipe ban by the end of the week.
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Thames Water will become the latest company to introduce the rules, telling 15 million people not to water gardens or wash their cars, it is understood.
It comes after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan warned restrictions were "inevitable", with Thames Water saying last week that the ban would be introduced in the "coming weeks".
It is set to be confirmed by Friday, in what will be the year's biggest temporary usage ban so far, according to MailOnline.
Manx Water, Welsh Water, Southern Water and South East Water have all already imposed hosepipe bans, but the addition of Thames Water will bring the number of Brits affected to 24 million.
Meanwhile, Yorkshire Water is set to bring restrictions in from August 26 and South West Water will from August 23 - affecting Cornwall and small part of Devon.
The restrictions mean people will be unable to use any hosepipe, including sprinklers and dripper hoses.
Cleaning a car, walls, paths or patios or filling a pool, pond or fountain are also banned.
Read more: Cornwall hit by flash flooding as thunderstorms and torrential rain sweep across the UK
A drought was declared across parts of England last week, as a result of high temperatures and lack of rainfall.
Water supplies "will remain resilient", the National Drought Group has said, but it follows the driest summer in 50 years.
The group, made up of senior figures from the Environment Agency, Government, water businesses and other key groups, joined by water minister Steve Double, met on Friday ahead of the announcement.
More severe measures can also be put in place under drought status, including banning the use of sprinklers the cleaning of buildings, vehicles and windows.
The drought group has discussed future risks and said it will work across sectors to balance water needs and conserve supply.
The Environment Agency told the group the threshold that triggers drought status has been crossed for parts of England, based on criteria including rainfall and reservoir levels.
Extremely low water levels exposed as drought hits England
Despite the extreme weather conditions in recent months, the Met Office has issued several yellow thunderstorm warnings for across the UK.
Torrential rain is set to hit, with flash flooding expected due to the dry land.
However, John Hammond, a forecaster at WeatherTrending, said that while "every drop counts" many parts of the country will still not get enough rain.
Mr Hammond told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "We are going to go, kind of, from one extreme to another.
"There is going to be some rain, for some of us too much in a very short space of time, for others just not enough.
"We're in a deficit of hundreds of millimetres of rain, some places have not seen even 50% of normal rainfall that we'd expect at this stage of the year.
"In the next few days some places will pick up ten or 20mm of rain, that is a spit, a drop in the ocean, a scratch on the surface of this drought.
"But every drop counts doesn't it."
