Water companies across the country are still enforcing a hosepipe ban despite heavy rainfall across much of the UK.
Around 26 million people are currently impacted by this summer’s hosepipe ban, which is being enforced by 10 companies across England and Wales, due to high demand or low supply of water necessary for consumption and essential services.
While more rain is forecast for the rest of the week, the Environment Agency has stressed considerable rainfall is required before conditions can return to normal.
Reservoir storage continues to decline at most public water supply reservoirs as demand exceeds recharge and remains significantly below average nationally.
The 10 companies that currently have bans in place are Affinity Water, Anglian Water, Bristol Water, Cambridge Water, Essex & Suffolk Water, Southern Water, South East Water, South West Water, Thames Water and Wessex Water.
However, while some of these are blanket bans covering entire areas, including Bristol Water and South West Water, others have bans only in certain places.
For example, the Affinity Water ban only covers its Central region, covering Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey, and parts of London and Essex, plus its East region, covering the Tendring Peninsula and surrounding areas of northeast Essex, encompassing the towns of Clacton-on-Sea, Harwich and Manningtree.
Anyone who is unsure if they are covered by a ban is encouraged to check directly with their water supplier, with Britons who ignore the ban still at risk of being fined.
The summer of 2026 was the warmest in the UK since records began in 1884, according to provisional figures from the Met Office.
The average temperature across June, July and August was 16.5C, beating the previous high of 16.1C set only last year.
It means the top six warmest summers on record have all occurred this century, including three this decade: 2026 in first place, followed by 2025, 2018, 2006, 2003 and 2022.
A summer such as the one in 2026 is around 130 times more likely because of climate change and is now a “one in nine year event”, the Met Office said.
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An estimated 2,877 deaths in England were associated with the heatwaves in May and June, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
As the scorching summer continued, England saw its driest July since data began, with only 7mm of rain measured, or 10 per cent of the long-term average.
The most recent heatwave, in mid-August, saw temperatures climb as high as 38.1C in Kew Gardens on August 13, making it the hottest day of the year.
It meant 2026 became the first year to see three separate days where temperatures exceeded 37C.
Elsewhere, the Met Office weather station at Wisley in Surrey recorded 62 consecutive days with no rain, while those at Heathrow Airport in London and Odiham in Hampshire clocked up dry spells that lasted 56 days.
Responding to the provisional figures, Katie White, Minister for Climate Transition, said: “Our hottest summer ever is a brutal reminder that we’re not waiting for climate change to arrive in Britain, we’re living in the middle of it.
“With kids too hot to sleep, families worrying about older relatives, farmers watching fields dry out, and firefighters and our Armed Forces battling wildfires, we’ve all woken up to a reality none of us wants for the people and places we love.
“That makes us more determined to act, with some of the biggest and boldest action in a generation to electrify our economy and tackle climate change with clean energy made in Britain.
“We’re seizing the opportunity to upgrade Britain, backing our best scientists, entrepreneurs and technologies to make us happier, healthier and wealthier.”
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