Yorkshire Water was the first water company in the north of England to announce a ban on garden hoses this weekend, after South East Water and Southern Water in the south. Thames Water in London has said it is considering a ban.
Of the other companies contacted by The timesseven companies did not answer the question, while one – Southern Water – declined to provide the information.
A drought has been declared in half of England, after the country recorded its driest July since 1935, in anticipation of another heat wave that would peak this weekend.
Eight of England’s 14 environmental agencies now have drought status. These are: Devon and Cornwall, Solent and South Downs, Kent and South London, Hertfordshire and North London, East Anglia, Thames, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, East Midlands.
Yorkshire and the West Midlands are expected to be added to the list later in August.
Water companies have been criticized for introducing a ban on garden hoses while failing to fix leaks that account for 20 percent of the country’s daily water use.
Even if every water company in the country bans garden hoses, that would save only half the water lost to spills every day. According to Water UK, a trade association, a ban on garden hoses will save 1.5 billion liters of water a day – 10 percent of what is used nationwide.
Twice this – more than £3 billion liters – is lost every day through leaks, according to the regulator Ofwat.