The Met Office has confirmed that some parts of England are seeing the longest unbroken spell of no recorded rainfall. Thames Water explained: “We’ve had a very dry spring and record-breaking hot weather in May, June and July. This has meant people have been using more water than normal. We need to protect our supplies now, so we can keep taps flowing as we move through the summer and beyond.”
Watering gardens or filling up paddling pools using a hosepipe is temporarily banned in some parts of England and Wales. According to Southwest Water, a hosepipe ban covers “anything that connects to the mains supply, it applies to sprinklers, irrigation systems and pressure washers as well as to hosepipes”. However, there are some exceptions. But who is exempt from the hosepipe ban?