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Thames Water imposes April hosepipe ban

13/03/2006

The UK's largest water firm, Thames Water, has imposed a blanket hosepipe ban from next month as a result of "drought" conditions in the south-east of England.

From Monday April 3rd, the firm's eight million UK customers will be banned from using hosepipes and sprinklers in response to dwindling reservoir reserves.

Jeremy Pelczer, chief executive of Thames Water, insisted that the firm had delayed the decision as long as possible, but had no alternative but to introduce a ban in response to the "severity of the drought" facing the region.

"After one of the driest periods on record, we have announced that from Monday 3rd April we will be introducing a hosepipe and sprinkler ban across the Thames Water supply area," Mr Pelczer wrote in a letter to customers.

"Of course, we are reluctant to limit the amount of water you can use, but we need to take action to protect the environment and lessen the likelihood of further restrictions at a later date."

"These are the first such measures in our region for 15 years. But the situation is serious - since November 2004 we have seen just one month of average rainfall."

Mr Pelczer added that the firm was taking measures to reduce the amount of money lost to leakages and was spending £500,000 a day to eliminate unnecessary losses.

Thames Water has also called on consumers to conserve water by taking showers instead of baths and only running dishwashers and washing machines on full loads.

The Consumer Council for Water has supported Thames Water's "sensible precaution", but warned the firm that it must improve its record on leakages.

"[The ban] represents a sensible precaution following 18 months of dry weather, and could help to prevent further problems later on in the season," said CC Water chair, Dame Yve Buckland.

"However in the case of Thames, we are concerned about leakage. While these hosepipe bans are the result of the current drought and not caused by leakage, the company has a poor track record on containing leaks on its network, regularly missing regulatory targets over the last four years.

"The company needs to take consumers with it on water saving, and it needs to improve its current performance if consumers are going to buy into its guidance on conserving supplies."

Thames is the fifth water company in the south and south-east of England to impose a hosepipe ban this year.

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