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Water firm imposes hosepipe ban in north-west England

A hosepipe ban is to be introduced in most of north-west England for the first time in 14 years.

The temporary ban, which will affect millions of householders in the region, will come into force at 0600 BST on Friday, United Utilities has said.

The firm said the measure will help "safeguard essential supplies".

Water levels in many reservoirs and lakes have plummeted to less than half their capacity due to the region's driest start to the year since 1929.

The water shortage comes just months after hundreds of properties were flooded in Cumbria following severe storms.

More than 1,300 properties were flooded across the county, with Cockermouth, Workington and Keswick worst affected.

Despite spells of rain over recent weeks, supply levels have failed to sufficiently increase.

Anybody caught flouting the ban may face a fine of up to £1,000.

Householders in Carlisle, Allerdale, Copeland and the north Eden Valley, all in Cumbria, are not affected, as their water comes from a different supply to the rest of the North West.

John Sanders, from United Utilities, said: "Despite some recent rainfall in the north of the region, reservoir levels are still significantly lower than we would expect at this time of year and are now at a point where we need to impose some temporary restrictions on our customers.

"It is not a decision we have taken lightly, but a hosepipe can use as much water in an hour as a family of four would use in one day.

"This ban will help us to safeguard essential water supplies to our customers if the drought continues."

The ban will restrict the use of hosepipes or sprinklers for watering private gardens and washing private cars.

People can still water their gardens with a watering can and wash their vehicles using a bucket and sponge, which use a fraction of the amount of water that a hosepipe or sprinkler does.

Drought permits

The company issued warnings about the possibility of restrictions last month when it applied to the Environment Agency for a drought permit.

The permit, which is still under consideration, allows them to take more water from Ennerdale reservoir, in Cumbria.

The plans have been placed on hold as recent rain means Ennerdale is one area where supplies remain at reasonable levels.

The firm is applying for new permits for Rivington reservoir, near Bolton, and Longdendale in Derbyshire.

There will also be an application to take additional water out of Windermere, Cumbria.

Source

They said this was going to happen a good few weeks ago, we have been in official drought status for some time now.

kind of inevitabe this was going to happen

we had no "april showers" and little or no rain since

Deffo had "some" rain since April, not sure how your memory is, but it was pissing down last week lol. But certainly nowhere near enough!

it will rain friday and saturday?????

Not been enough rain I suppose. No doubt after we've had a week of rain they will say it hasn't rained high enough in the mountains of North Wales to feed the reservoirs.

Nothing to do with all the leaks they can't plug!!

It's also now too late in the year for rainfall (unless we get weeks of really heavy rain in North Wales) to make much differance as most of the rainfall now wil get sucked up by plants and trees or evaporate.

If you have a look at how quick the ground is drying after it stops raining at the moment this illustrates how quick the moisture is going back into the atmosphere.

It's not panic stations yet cos a normal winter would fix the problem, if we get another dry winter again though we're really up sh*t creek with water being tankered into the North West and stand pipes and the like..........

Dont know what all the panic is about, in 2 and a half weeks when the schools break up it will be none stop rain , then the sun will appear again in sept when the kids go back.

too true, it' probably rain non stop when the ban comes in.

Maybe the utility companies need to take their fingers out their ar**s and stick those fingers into all their leaking pipes

ok we have a hose pipe ban. do we have a payment ban. i mean do we still have to pay our bills lol

What annoys me is that countries like Australia dont have a problem...over there it doesnt rain for 6 months at a time and yet they manage. United Utilities should pay their shareholders less and concentrate on building more resevoirs and securing a propper supply for their paying customers (and lets face it we DO pay through the nose for the priveledge)! After all there has been enough informationabout climate change and we've been having 'freak' weather for how many years? It seems very very shortsighted....

These hosepipe bans cripple me. How am I meant to wee, I ask you?!

Its all well and good saying build more Resevoirs. Try and find a valley that has not got houses in it, or is not part of a national park. So that you avoid the planning appeals and public debates which after 3 or 4 years then go to a further appeal.

i have it sussed!!! throw some de-salination plants up and use the sea water to make fresh water and it'll keep the "rising" sea levels down at the same time. simples