- Thames Water has announced that a hosepipe ban will commence on 22 July for customers across large parts of southern England.
- The ban will affect customers in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, most of Wiltshire, and specific postcodes in Berkshire, including OX, GL, SN, RG4, RG8, and RG9.
- The measure is being implemented because the Environment Agency placed the area into a "prolonged dry weather category", with low flow in the River Thames impacting the Farmoor Reservoir.
- Thames Water noted that current reservoir levels at Farmoor are below average at 92 per cent, exacerbated by forecast high temperatures and increased water demand.
- This decision follows the UK experiencing one of its warmest and driest springs in over a century in 2025 and England's warmest June on record, with similar hosepipe bans already in effect in Yorkshire, Kent, and Sussex.
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