South East Water<\/a> has put an official temporary hosepipe use ban in place, covering much of the Kent<\/a> region. Other areas served by the company\u00a0\u2013 Surrey<\/a>, Hampshire<\/a>, Berkshire<\/a> and Sussex<\/a> (both East and West) \u2013 have also been advised to pause all use.<\/p>\n A hosepipe ban is different to an advisory notice. Anyone caught breaching an official ban can be issued with a fine of up to \u00a31,000.<\/p>\n The total amount of water treated by the South East Water on Sunday was 644 million litres, the company said \u2013 56 million litres higher than the entire June average (588 million litres).<\/p>\n It comes as the Met Office<\/a> recorded a provisional outdoor high<\/a> of 36.1C at Gosport in Hampshire on Wednesday, beating the previous top temperature <\/a>of 35.6C set in 1976, as the record was broken four times in a day.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n South East Water is currently the only company to issue an official ban. However, Wessex Water<\/a> has asked its customers to limit their use, writing on social media: \u201cGrass is tougher than it looks. It naturally copes during hot, dry spells and will bounce back quickly when the rain returns.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the warmer weather<\/a> returning, it’s an easy way to save water and it can even help reduce weeds too.\u201d<\/p>\n Affinity Water<\/a>, which serves several areas outside of Greater London, has also asked its customers to \u201cuse water wisely this week\u201d.<\/p>\n A red alert is a request for customers to use water for essential reasons only, rather than an enforced hosepipe ban with a fine attached. No official hosepipe bans are yet in place.<\/p>\n Several health alerts have been put in place as temperatures rise, with the Met Office<\/a> issuing a rare red weather<\/a> warning covering areas including London, Swansea, Somerset and Birmingham from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday.<\/p>\n An amber weather warning for heat also spans all of Wales and England as far north as Blackpool between Monday and Thursday.<\/p>\n Met Office<\/a> deputy chief forecaster Mark Sidaway, said: \u201cRed warnings are reserved for the most severe events and we\u2019re expecting severe and significant impacts from this heatwave<\/a>, with health impacts likely for many, even beyond those who are normally more vulnerable to the heat.<\/p>\n \u201cAs well as very high daytime temperatures, there will be consecutive nights where temperatures do not drop below 20C, which is called a tropical night. This will make it very hard for people to recover from the daytime heat, exacerbating the heat stress impacts.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"South](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/hosepipe-ban-South-East-Water-250626.png\")
South East Water’s hosepipe ban covers much of the Kent region (South East Water)<\/p>\n![\"UK](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1412626490...jpeg\")
UK households have been asked to be mindful of their water usage (Getty)<\/p>\n