LONDON — A new hosepipe ban took effect Monday for 1.4 million people across Bath, Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire, imposed by Wessex Water after weeks of scorching temperatures and no meaningful rainfall. The company cited surging demand during the dry period and longer-range weather forecasts that it said require resources to be protected for customers and the natural environment.
The restriction is the first Wessex Water has enacted since 1976, when England last experienced a summer of comparable severity. Dozens of other suppliers—including Affinity Water, Anglian Water, Thames Water, Southern Water and Welsh Water—have already put bans in place across England and Wales, meaning millions of Britons are now under some form of water restriction.
Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice chose the same day to push back against alarm over the dry conditions. Tice acknowledged that climate change is "real" but argued the country should not be consumed by pessimism. "If it means that English wine and sparkling wine get better and better, fantastic," he said. He called it "arrogant" to believe net zero policies are capable of halting climate change, adding: "Climate change has always happened; it always will. Maybe the smarter thing to do is to adapt to it rather than think arrogantly you can stop it. I'm old enough to remember 1976—this feels a bit the same. That was 50 years ago."
Tice said he sees no evidence that net zero measures will alter the trajectory of the climate. He spoke hours before the Wessex ban came into force, drawing immediate criticism from opponents who argued the timing undercut his framing of the summer heat as cause for optimism.
Separately, Reform UK published a policy paper arguing that mass immigration is a primary reason hosepipe bans have become necessary, contending that population growth places excessive strain on water infrastructure. The party did not specify a population figure or time period in the paper's publicly reported conclusions.
The drought's effects on the land go beyond inconvenienced gardeners. England and Wales have recorded 1,132 wildfires in 2026, the highest figure for the period from January to mid-August on record. Firefighters have been battling blazes driven by dry, hard ground, and Downing Street defended an emergency alert sent to millions of mobile phones on Friday evening, describing the wildfire threat as an ongoing "emergency situation."
Some areas of England have gone more than two months without any recorded rainfall. Wisley in Surrey, for example, has seen no rain in more than 61 days. Rivers and agricultural land have been hit hard, and forecasters say the cumulative deficit is too large to be reversed before autumn, regardless of what the coming weeks bring.
The Met Office's deputy chief forecaster, Mike Silverstone, said showers are expected in the north—particularly the North West—on Monday, with rain reaching the South West by Monday evening before spreading east across southern England. Silverstone described Thursday as a day of "heavy showers" but warned that ground baked hard by drought conditions is likely to shed water rather than absorb it, creating a risk of surface water flooding in some locations rather than meaningful replenishment of reservoirs and aquifers.
Both England and Wales recorded their driest July since the Met Office began keeping records 190 years ago, a figure that frames the current drought as historically unusual rather than a routine summer dry spell comparable to 1976. The comparison Tice drew is contested on those grounds: while 1976 was severe, the meteorological record since then has given scientists a longer baseline against which to measure current conditions.
The government has announced nine new reservoirs as part of a longer-term investment in water infrastructure, a step that aligns with Tice's call for adaptation but was announced as policy rather than a response to Reform's arguments. No completion dates or cost figures for the reservoirs were confirmed in the material available Monday.
Wessex Water said the ban's duration is open-ended and will be reviewed as conditions develop. The National Fire Chiefs Council has not indicated when the wildfire alert status will be reduced.
