London hosepipe ban to come within days as 15 million customers impacted

It comes as the Evening Standard revealed that Thames Water will formally confirm the measures in full later this week. 

Though it's not a surprise to many London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that the hosepipe ban was "inevitable" and that it would be put in place unless Londoners limited their use of water. 

Now as the London Fire Brigade has shared that they were being "stretched to the limit" seeing 200 wildfires over the recent weekend. 

We are currently experiencing the driest year since 1976, and the unprecedented high temperatures mean that the grass in London is tinderbox dry.

I cannot stress this enough: the smallest of sparks can start a large and dangerous fire which will put lives at risk.

— Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) August 15, 2022

Officers said there were 340 grass fires in the first week of August alone, making it eight times more than the same week the previous year. 

Plus now there are concerns that thunderstorms across could see flash flooding, whilst high winds could cause wildfires to spread more rapidly. 

Now Thames Water will ban 15 million customers in London and the Thames Valley from watering gardens and washing cars. 

It comes as last month saw record-breaking temperatures hit the capital, with the region reaching the high 30s. 

A Thames Water spokesman said: “The prolonged hot weather and ongoing lack of rain has meant that we are now planning to take our drought plan to the next stage which is to introduce a temporary use ban.”

However, the water supply has been criticised for leaking nearly 2.6 billion litres of water a day but has said it fixes 1,200 leaks a week, with aims to reduce wastage by 2024/25.