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We cannot confirm Severn Trent'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 Severn Trent'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.
Last confirmed on 18 August 2026: a voluntary water-saving appeal, with no legal restriction and no fine. We're re-checking. A voluntary conservation appeal, not a Temporary Use Ban: no legal restriction and no fine. Severn Trent asked customers to avoid mains water for garden irrigation and to switch to stored rainwater or grey water where possible. It has not imposed a formal hosepipe ban in over 30 years.
Last confirmed: voluntary appeal – checked 29 days ago.
We’re re-checking Severn Trent’s notice now, so we are not asserting that status today. Their own notice is authoritative. Check it before using a hosepipe.
We are an unofficial tracker, so Severn Trent’s own notice is the version that legally applies to you.
Severn Trent supplies 8 million people from the Bristol Channel to the Humber, across the West Midlands, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Its appeal covers that whole area, and because it is an appeal rather than a legal notice there is no boundary question to resolve: nothing is prohibited anywhere in it, so no household needs to work out which side of a line it sits on.
The company to separate from it is Hafren Dyfrdwy, in the same group but a separate licensed company covering north east and mid Wales under a different regulator. A Severn Trent announcement does not carry into Wales. South Staffs Water also supplies a large area inside the Severn Trent sewerage footprint, and is a different company again.
Source: Severn Trent
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. Severn Trent'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 is level 3 on the standard scale, currently £1,000, under section 76(5) of the Water Industry Act 1991. It is not a fixed penalty: Severn Trent 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.
Severn Trent has not imposed a formal hosepipe restriction in over thirty years, and it publishes news releases confirming as much in dry summers. That record is worth reading precisely rather than loosely: it means the company has managed several droughts, including ones in which its neighbours restricted use, without reaching for its section 76 powers. It is not a promise about this summer, and an appeal is what this company does instead.
Recorded here this season for Severn Trent: a voluntary appeal beginning 7 July 2026, running 71 days so far. Events are permanent. When one ends we set its end date and keep it, so this page can still say what ran and for how long.
Source: Severn Trent
We could not confirm Severn Trent's current status from its own notice, so this site asserts nothing either way. Check Severn Trent's own notice before using a hosepipe.
Because we could not confirm it against Severn Trent'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 Severn Trent'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 Severn Trent'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: Severn Trent 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. Severn Trent'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. Severn Trent supplies the severn trent supply area across the midlands.
No. An appeal is a request. A Temporary Use Ban is made under section 76 of the Water Industry Act 1991 and creates a criminal offence; an appeal creates none.
No. Hafren Dyfrdwy is a separate licensed company in the same group, covering north east and mid Wales, regulated by Natural Resources Wales rather than the Environment Agency. It sets its own position, and Severn Trent's announcements do not extend to it.
The supply area runs across the Midlands from Gloucestershire and Shropshire through the West Midlands conurbation to Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, and it is bounded by South Staffs Water, Anglian Water, Yorkshire Water, United Utilities and Welsh Water.
19 outward postcode districts resolve to Severn Trent 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: Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, Derby, Gloucester and 1 more. 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: Severn Trent
Severn Trent publishes water quality data openly but does not include a hardness determinand in any edition. We have asked them for it in writing. In the meantime their own customer pages are the place to check.
Source of record: Severn Trent’s own status page, last checked 18 August 2026. We do not publish a hosepipe ban on the strength of a news report; every status rests on a primary source.