The ban on hosepipes and sprinklers will come into effect from 00.01 next Friday and will be in place until further notice. Anyone who breaks the rules could be fined up to £1,000.

A statement on the South East Water website said: “The demand for water this summer has broken all previous records, including the Covid lockdown heatwave. We have been producing an additional 120 million litres of water a day to supply our customers, which is the equivalent of supplying a further four towns the size of Maidstone or Eastbourne, daily.

“We are taking this step to ensure we have enough water for both essential use and to protect the environment. This will enable us to also reduce the amount of water we need to take from already stressed local water sources.”

Official figures show that July 2022 was the driest on record since 1935 and the period between November 2021 and July 2022 has been the driest eight-month stint since 1976.

The South East only saw 8% of the average rainfall for the month in July, and the long term forecast for August and September is for similar weather.

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Under the ban, South East Water customers must not use a hosepipe that is connected to the mains water supply.

A “hosepipe” means anything designed, adapted or used to serve the same purpose as a hosepipe. This means that garden sprinklers and irrigation systems connected to the mains water supply are considered to be hosepipes, together with anything attached to them such as pressure washers.

There are pre-approved exemptions for certain categories of people or uses of water. People who may find it hard to make adaptations and are registered with the South East Water’s Priority Service Register will be granted an automatic exemption to any of the restrictions and will receive notification of this directly.

Southern Water announced a hosepipe ban last week, covering Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. It comes into effect this Friday.