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Current water use restrictions

Find out if your local water company has enforced water use restrictions and information on abstraction licence conditions.

Hosepipe bans

Southern Water, South East Water, Thames Water, Anglian Water, Sutton and East Surrey, Veolia Central and Veolia South East have enforced restrictions such as hosepipe bans.

Please contact your local water company for more information.

Non-essential use drought orders

No water company has a non-essential use drought order in place.

Spray irrigation status (section 57 restrictions)

There are currently no spray irrigation restrictions in place under section 57 of the Water Resources Act (1991). 

We have powers to enforce restrictions on spray irrigation during periods of drought under Section 57 of the Water Resources Act (1991) as amended by the Environment Act (1995) and the Water Act (2003). 

If you want to find out more about section 57 restrictions, please read our short briefing note:

Abstraction licence conditions

Most abstraction licences now contain conditions where the licence holder has to reduce or stop taking water once the river has dropped to a certain level or flow. These are known as Hands off Flow (HoF) conditions and protect other river users and the environment. 

Some older licences don't have these conditions. In these cases we use section 57 of the Water Resources Act 1991 to impose restrictions when necessary.

Local teams will warn licence holders when we are approaching these levels and licence holders must reduce or stop their abstraction. 

Applying for drought permits and drought orders

Information about the drought permits and drought orders guideline and download a copy of the application form for a drought permit.