Cambridge Water has imposed a hosepipe ban affecting around 350,000 people, saying its teams have been ‘doing everything to maintain supplies, but demand for water is currently at record levels’
A fresh hosepipe ban affecting around 350,000 Brits has been imposed for the first time in three decades as the UK grapples with its third scorching heatwave this year.
Cambridge Water said the temporary ban – the first imposed in the region in 30 years – will takes effect immediately, with the restrictions becoming legally enforceable from 1am BST on July 17.
The company supplies drinking water to parts of Cambridgeshire, including Cambridge, Ramsey, Gamlingay, Balsham and Melbourn.
In a notice issued on Thursday afternoon, Cambridge Water said the ban has become necessary as a result of the record-breaking heat and a 30 per cent increase in water use – equivalent to an extra 300,000 baths every day – coupled with low rainfall over recent months.
“On hot days – which have been continuous for several weeks now – the demand for water outstrips the maximum amount of water we are able to abstract from the environment, treat and distribute,” the utility said.
Elena Karpathakis, managing director at Cambridge Water, said: “We have been doing everything possible to maintain supplies, but demand for water is currently at record levels. So we really need your help please.”
She added: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly – it is the first time in more than 30 years, since the UK drought of 1995, that we have had to introduce a temporary hosepipe ban.”
Alongside the higher-than-average temperatures driven by human-caused climate change, Cambridgeshire has seen below-average rainfall since March, with the region experiencing one of its driest Aprils on record. Two heatwaves then followed in May and June, bringing record temperatures for both months.
On Thursday, the current heatwave brought temperatures as high as 35C in Surrey, the Met Office said, adding that it marked the eighth day this year that temperatures had exceeded 34C. This sets a new record for the most days of 34C or above in a calendar year. The previous record was seven days, set in 1976 and equalled in 2020.
As a result, Cambridge Water said it has started drawing down on its underground reserves “sooner and faster” than it normally would. “We still have several months of summer ahead of us, which could be filled with equally hot and dry weather,” it added.
Cambridge Water, which supplies drinking water to around 350,000 customers in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, said the ban was necessary to “help protect local water resources and the region’s internationally important chalk streams”.
Everyone the company supplies is required to stop using their hosepipes for the following non-essential activities: watering gardens, filling ponds, fountains, paddling pools, swimming pools, hot tubs or cold-water plunge pool, washing cars, patios or windows.
South East Water became the first company to introduce a ban, which came into force on July 3 for areas of Kent, including those in Ashford, Canterbury, Faversham, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Snodland, Tenterden and Tunbridge Wells.
Hosepipe restrictions are also being introduced for about one million Southern Water customers across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight from Friday.
