UK Water News: July 2026

The heat that forced the first bans of the summer has not let up, and this week the response moved from single companies to the national level. The Environment Agency has pulled its drought group back together, Thames Water is leaning on 16 million customers to ease off, and the Kent hosepipe ban stops being a request and starts being a rule. Here is what shifted in the last week and what it means at home.

The National Drought Group reconvenes as East Anglia dries out

The Environment Agency reconvened its National Drought Group on 18 June and will now meet monthly through the summer to track supplies. Most of England is still classed as normal, but the Cam and Ely Ouse, North West Norfolk and North Norfolk catchments in East Anglia have moved from normal to prolonged dry weather status after a dry spring and a record-breaking end to June. None of this changes the chemistry of what comes out of your tap, but the areas under most pressure sit on chalk and clay that also give England some of its hardest water. If you want to see where your postcode falls, our UK water hardness map breaks it down region by region. The Agency’s assessment is published on GOV.UK.

Thames Water asks 16 million customers to cut back, but holds off a ban

On 26 June Thames Water asked customers across London and the Thames Valley to use water only for essential needs, after what its demand reduction manager called exceptional heat-driven demand. The company stopped short of a formal Temporary Use Ban and would not confirm whether one is coming. For a household this is the softer end of the scale: a plea rather than an enforceable rule, and again it is about supply, not quality. It is a useful reminder that limescale is a year-round problem regardless of the weather, so if hard water is a constant nuisance the fix is a softener rather than anything seasonal. Our guide on how to tell if your water is hard or soft is a sensible first step. The request is reported by Yahoo News UK.

South East Water’s Kent hosepipe ban becomes enforceable on 3 July

The Temporary Use Ban that South East Water announced for around 850,000 customers in Kent stops being voluntary and becomes legally enforceable from 00:01 on 3 July. The company says it is not in drought but is using the ban to manage record peak demand on its distribution network, with usage hitting 687 million litres on 24 June. In practice that means no hosepipes for watering gardens, washing cars or filling paddling pools until it is lifted. A ban does nothing to the hardness of your supply, so if you are already dealing with scaled kettles and cloudy glasses, the best water softener for UK homes guide is a better place to spend your attention than the weather forecast. The rules and covered postcodes are set out on the South East Water website.