{"id":739286,"date":"2026-08-15T23:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T23:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/739286\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T23:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T23:12:11","slug":"reform-vows-to-end-hosepipe-bans-for-good-with-plan-to-revolutionise-britains-reservoirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/739286\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform vows to end hosepipe bans for good with plan to revolutionise Britain’s reservoirs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reform UK has vowed to end hosepipe bans for good and outlined plans to revolutionise Britain’s reservoirs.<\/p>\n

Nigel Farage’s party has pledged to scrap the government’s water reduction targets, introduced by the Conservatives and continued by Labour.<\/p>\n

Prolonged hot weather and record-low rainfall have forced nine water companies to issue Temporary Use Bans as drought conditions now cover over 71 per cent of England.<\/p>\n

More than 26 million people in Britain are currently living under a hosepipe ban as the UK experiences its fifth widespread heatwave of the year.<\/p>\n

Under these legal restrictions, households cannot use a hosepipe to water gardens, wash vehicles, clean windows, or fill paddling pools.<\/p>\n

Violating the ban carries a potential fine of up to \u00a31,000.<\/p>\n

Prolonged hot weather and record-low rainfall have forced nine water companies to issue Temporary Use Bans.<\/p>\n

Drought conditions now cover over 71 per cent of England.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Reform UK has vowed to end hosepipe bans for good<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

England has received just 4mm of rain so far in August, or six per cent of the long-term average for the month, the Environment Agency said on Friday.<\/p>\n

It follows the driest July on record for the country, when only 7mm of rain was measured, or 10 per cent of the average.<\/p>\n

The ongoing dry weather means that reservoir storage for England now stands at 66 per cent, down from 69 per cent a week ago and nearly 14 percentage points below the long-term average for the time of year, the Environment Agency said.<\/p>\n

Storage stood at 85 per cent at the end of June, but has fallen steadily in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

\"Queen<\/p>\n

Aerial view of the Queen Mother Reservoir, east Berkshire, UK<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

Five reservoirs are currently classed as having “exceptionally low” levels: Clatworthy in Somerset (48 per cent full); Clywedog in Powys, which provides water for central and north-west England (56 per cent); the Dove group of reservoirs in Derbyshire (69 per cent); Hanningfield in Essex (56 per cent); and Wimbleball in Somerset (46 per cent).<\/p>\n

Reform has also pledged to cut the red tape that is holding back the construction of new reservoirs and to build infrastructure to avoid water shortages.<\/p>\n

The last large reservoir in England was built in 1992.<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency warned last year of a potential 5 billion litres-per-day shortfall in public water supplies by 2055 without urgent action.<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/p>\n

Nigel Farage’s party has pledged to scrap the government’s water reduction targets<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

\"AndyAndy Burnham has issued a dire warning to the public as the nation tackles wildfires | POOL<\/p>\n

The regions and companies enforcing hosepipe bans include:<\/p>\n

Thames Water: 15 million customers across London, the Thames Valley, and the Home Counties.<\/p>\n

Anglian Water: Entire supply region across the east of England.<\/p>\n

South East Water: Full supply area including Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, and Berkshire.<\/p>\n

South West Water: Recently expanded to cover all of Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and parts of Dorset and Somerset.<\/p>\n

Affinity Water: Central region, including parts of Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and North London.<\/p>\n

Essex & Suffolk Water: All household customers across their supply area.<\/p>\n

Southern Water: Active for customers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.<\/p>\n

Cambridge Water & Welsh Water: Full region in Cambridge and parts of West Wales, respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reform UK has vowed to end hosepipe bans for good and outlined plans to revolutionise Britain’s reservoirs. Nigel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,229,70,56,44208,54,55],"class_list":["post-739286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-reform-uk","tag-uk","tag-uk-politics","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}