South East Water has become the latest company to announce water restrictions, which will come into force on Friday 12 August and remain in place until further notice. Millions of people in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight were already faced with a rubber ban from August 5. The bans come after England’s driest July since 1935 and the driest on record for the south east and south of England. South-east England recorded just 8 per cent of average rainfall in July, the Met Office said on Monday, and the longer-term forecast for August and September is similar. South East Water said demand for water this summer was higher than any previous record, including the coronavirus lockdown. It said it produced an extra 120 million liters of water a day, equivalent to supplying four more towns the size of Maidstone or Eastbourne. The goal of the pipe ban is to ensure that the water company has enough water for basic use, to protect the environment and to reduce the amount of water the company needs to take from local water bodies. People in Kent and Sussex will no longer be allowed to use a hose to water a garden, clean a car, fill a swimming pool or go rowing among other activities. If someone is found to have broken one of the rules, they can be fined up to £1,000, according to South East Water’s website. A groundskeeper at Boughton and Eastwell Cricket Club in Ashford, Kent, prepares the wickets for matches this weekend. (PA) Southern Water became the first water company to announce a piped ban this year for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight last Friday. A ban has also come into force in the Isle of Man. Climate scientists have warned that as greenhouse gases continue to warm the planet, the UK could see hotter and drier summers and wetter winters. This can cause problems for farmers whose land may be flooded during the winter and then suffer from a lack of water in the summer. This year, farmers are worried it will be too dry to plant crops such as canola this month, which produces a good alternative to sunflower oil that is in short supply because of the conflict in Ukraine.
