Hosepipe ban rules: what you can and can't do

What a hosepipe ban actually is

A hosepipe ban — formally a Temporary Use Ban under the Water Industry Act 1991 — is a restriction a water company can bring in to protect supplies during dry weather. It limits the use of a hosepipe connected to the mains for a defined list of activities.

The key word is hosepipe. The restriction is on the method — a mains-fed hose — not on the activity itself, which is why a watering can is almost always still fine.

What's restricted

The standard list of restricted uses is: watering a garden or plants with a hosepipe; washing a car, van, or boat with a hose; filling or topping up a paddling or swimming pool; filling a pond or an ornamental fountain; and cleaning windows, walls, paths, patios or other outdoor surfaces with a hose or pressure washer.

Each company publishes its own notice, and the exact wording varies slightly, so it's always worth reading yours.

What you can still do

Plenty. You can water the garden with a watering can or a bucket, wash the car with a bucket and sponge, and top up a pond by hand. You can use water that isn't from the mains — a hosepipe connected to a water butt of collected rainwater is generally fine, because a ban applies to mains water.

Drip or trickle irrigation fitted with a pressure-reducing valve and a timer is commonly permitted too, and watering newly-laid turf is sometimes exempt for a few weeks — but both depend on your company's specific notice, so check before you assume.

Exemptions

Water companies often exempt customers on their Priority Services Register and Blue Badge holders from the ban, but not all do. South East Water has removed its earlier exemptions in Sussex from 9 October 2026, including for Priority Services Register customers. In Sussex, the hosepipe uses listed above as restricted are now allowed only where health, safety or welfare requires it, though a hosepipe fed from a water butt and timer-fitted drip irrigation are still allowed. Commercial hosepipe cleaning of cars, windows, walls, paths and patios is no longer allowed there either (South East Water, checked 9 October 2026). A wider ban on non-essential water use by businesses, which South East Water has applied for, still needs the Environment Secretary’s approval. Elsewhere, businesses that use water as part of their trade are generally outside the scope of a domestic ban — a professional window cleaner or a garden centre can carry on — and commercial car washes are unaffected.

Exemptions differ between companies, so if you think one applies to you, confirm it against your own water company's published notice.

The fine, and how it's enforced

Breaching a Temporary Use Ban is a criminal offence under section 76 of the Water Industry Act 1991, with a fine of up to £1,000 on conviction. In practice, water companies lead with reminders and warnings rather than prosecutions, and rely heavily on neighbours reporting obvious breaches.

But the ban is law, not a polite request — so if one is in force in your area, take it seriously.

How to keep a garden alive in a ban

A ban doesn't have to mean a dead garden. Water early in the morning or late in the evening so less evaporates, aim water at the roots with a can rather than spraying leaves, and mulch beds to lock moisture in. A water butt on a downpipe gives you hose-free water you're allowed to use.

Grey water — from a bath or washing-up bowl — can go on ornamental plants and lawns, though not on edible crops for hygiene reasons. And don't fret about the lawn: brown grass is dormant, not dead, and it bounces back after the first proper rain.

Is a ban coming to my area, and why?

Bans follow prolonged dry weather and falling reservoir and river levels, and some areas — like the chalk-stream catchments of the south and east — are declared sooner because their rivers are especially sensitive to low flows.

You can see the current picture on our live trackers: which companies have declared a ban, and how full England's reservoirs are.

When does a ban end? The company that brought it in decides, and neither Thames Water nor South East Water has given an end date. Thames Water said on 23 September that it needs “significant and prolonged rainfall over the coming weeks” before it can consider lifting its ban, and South East Water says its Sussex restrictions are likely to stay until it is confident that water resources have recovered (Thames Water, 23 September 2026; South East Water, checked 9 October 2026).