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We cannot confirm Bristol Water's current position from its own published notice, so this page asserts nothing about it. That is deliberate: a wrong all-clear here would send someone out with a hosepipe under a restriction carrying a fine of up to 1,000 pounds, and a wrong restriction would cost them a brown lawn for no reason. Check Bristol Water's own notice, linked below, before using a hosepipe. Everything else on this page, the supply area, the exclusions, the penalties and the history, is stable information that does not depend on today's status.
What this site last recorded, on 30 July 2026, and which is what we can no longer stand behind today: Confirmed 27 July 2026 by checking Bristol Water's own site: no Temporary Use Ban notice anywhere, only a generic year-round water-efficiency campaign. That campaign is NOT a drought or dry-weather appeal and does not make this a voluntary_appeal. With no positive 'no ban' statement either, the status rests on the absence of a notice and carries the shorter freshness window.
We could not confirm Bristol Water’s current status from their own page, so we are not asserting a restriction. Check with your supplier before using a hosepipe.
We are an unofficial tracker, so Bristol Water’s own notice is the version that legally applies to you.
Bristol Water supplies 1.2 million people in the city of Bristol and the surrounding area, including parts of Somerset and south Gloucestershire. It is a water-only company sitting inside Wessex Water's sewerage area, so almost every household here receives water from one company and sewerage from another.
That produces a specific confusion in the BS postcodes and along the Somerset border, where Bristol Water, Wessex Water and, further west, South West Water all operate. Wessex Water is the larger name and the one most people recognise, but in Bristol itself it is not the water supplier. The water supply line of the bill settles which company's position applies.
Source: Bristol Water
The sections on why a restriction was declared, and on what it restricts, are not shown here: with the status unconfirmed there is nothing verified to describe, and inventing it would be worse than leaving it out. Bristol Water's own notice is the authoritative statement of its current position.
If a Temporary Use Ban were in force here, breaching it would be a criminal offence. The maximum penalty is a fine of £1,000 on summary conviction, under section 76(5) of the Water Industry Act 1991. It is not a fixed penalty: Bristol Water cannot issue one and would have to prosecute. In practice companies publish an enforcement policy that starts with a warning, so a first breach realistically produces a letter.
Bristol Water has not restricted hosepipe use in recent seasons, including through 2022, when South West Water restricted use in Devon and Cornwall to the west. The Mendip reservoir system is small in national terms but it serves a compact and densely populated area, and the company's own communications concentrate on demand reduction rather than on restriction. The recurring risk in this area is therefore a dry winter followed by a hot spring, which draws storage down before summer demand arrives.
Source: Bristol Water
We could not confirm Bristol Water's current status from its own notice, so this site asserts nothing either way. Check Bristol Water's own notice before using a hosepipe.
Because we could not confirm it against Bristol Water's own published notice, and this site does not assert a status it cannot stand behind. A wrong all-clear costs a reader up to 1,000 pounds; a wrong ban costs them a brown lawn. Neither is acceptable, so it says so instead.
We cannot confirm Bristol Water's current position, so this page will not tell you either way. A watering can or bucket is safe whatever the status, because a Temporary Use Ban never restricts them. For a hosepipe, check Bristol Water's own notice first.
Up to 1,000 pounds, imposed by a magistrates' court on conviction under section 76 of the Water Industry Act 1991. It is not a fixed penalty: Bristol Water would have to prosecute, and starts with a warning.
Usually, but not automatically everywhere. Most companies exempt Priority Services Register customers and Blue Badge holders who cannot reasonably use a can or bucket, some automatically and some on registration. Bristol Water's own notice sets the wording.
Your water bill, on the water supply line rather than the sewerage line: in much of England and Wales those are two different companies. Bristol Water supplies the bristol water supply area covering bristol and the surrounding area.
No. Bristol Water runs a year-round water efficiency campaign asking customers to use less during hot, dry weather. It is not a Temporary Use Ban and not a dated drought appeal: nothing is prohibited and there is no fine. A restriction would be a legal notice under section 76 of the Water Industry Act 1991.
The supply area covers Bristol and reaches into north Somerset and south Gloucestershire, taking in Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and the Chew valley, wrapped on all sides by Wessex Water's larger sewerage area.
1 outward postcode district resolve to Bristol Water here, as primary supplier or as one candidate among several. An outward code is the part before the space: SO14, not SO14 3AB.
Town pages here: Bristol. Each resolves from its own outcode rather than this company's headline status, which matters most where a town sits outside a restriction its supplier has declared.
Source: Bristol Water
Source of record: Bristol Water’s own status page, last checked 30 July 2026. We do not publish a hosepipe ban on the strength of a news report; every status rests on a primary source.