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South West Water has a Temporary Use Ban, the legal name for a hosepipe ban, in force since 8 August 2026, with no end date announced, so it runs until further notice. The entire South West Water supply area: all of Devon and Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and parts of Dorset and Somerset. South West Water supplies 1.8 million people in total. A watering can, a bucket and water you have collected yourself are never restricted by a Temporary Use Ban.
A region-wide Temporary Use Ban across South West Water's ENTIRE supply area, in force from 00:01 on Saturday 8 August 2026, superseding the earlier Mid and East Devon restriction. Re-confirmed 10 August 2026 from South West Water's own restrictions page: the ban applies to 'all our customers in Devon, Cornwall, parts of Dorset and Somerset and the Isles of Scilly'. Their site refuses automated checks, so this is confirmed by hand, and the statutory notice is independently visible on the Public Notice Portal.
You cannot use a hosepipe or sprinkler at home. A watering can or bucket is still fine, and the maximum fine is £1,000.
We are an unofficial tracker, so South West Water’s own notice is the version that legally applies to you.
South West Water supplies 1.8 million people across Devon, Cornwall and parts of Dorset and Somerset. Its restriction covers eight named places in Mid and East Devon plus Lyme Regis, over the Dorset border.
This is the coverage map most likely to produce a wrong answer from a postcode alone, because included and excluded areas share postcode areas: EX16 is Tiverton and is covered, EX1 to EX6 are Exeter and are not. South West Water publishes its own postcode checker.
Source: South West Water
The restriction took effect at noon on Tuesday 14 July 2026 and is tied to specific supply zones rather than to the region's overall resource position. South West Water issues its statutory notices per area, and publishes them separately, which is how a company supplying the whole peninsula ends up with a notice drawn at a list of eight towns instead of a regional boundary.
The notice reaches anything connected to the mains, and South West Water is explicit that this includes sprinklers, irrigation systems and pressure washers. It has published no customer count for the affected area, and we do not estimate one.
Source: South West Water
A Temporary Use Ban does not prohibit hosepipes in general. It prohibits the eleven uses at s.76(2) of the Water Industry Act 1991, starting with watering a garden, cleaning a private motor vehicle, watering plants on domestic or other non-commercial premises, cleaning a private leisure boat and running through pools, ponds, fountains, walls, windows, paths and patios. Anything outside those eleven is untouched.
A watering can, a bucket and water you have collected yourself are never restricted by a Temporary Use Ban. Neither is water that never came through the mains: a hosepipe fed from a butt, a borehole or grey water sits outside the notice, because it attaches to the water rather than to the hosepipe.
Each company then publishes its own concessions, and they differ enough that one list is no guide to another. These 4 are South West Water's:
More: what you can still do, newly laid turf, drip irrigation, business and trade rules.
Breaching a Temporary Use Ban is a criminal offence, not a civil matter. 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: South West 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.
South West Water publishes its statutory notices as PDFs and a separate exceptions page, covering Priority Services Register customers who cannot make reasonable adjustments, non-mains water, and cleaning taxis and goods vehicles.
More: fines and enforcement in detail.
Source: South West Water
The South West's recent record runs the other way from the rest of England: after the 2022 drought and the long restriction that followed in Cornwall and Devon, South West Water stated publicly that drought recovery meant no restrictions were needed in 2024. A notice confined to eight named towns is a far narrower instrument.
Recorded here this season for South West Water: a restriction from 14 July 2026 to 8 August 2026, 25 days; a restriction beginning 8 August 2026, running 39 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: South West Water
Yes. South West Water has a Temporary Use Ban in force, in effect since 8 August 2026. The entire South West Water supply area: all of Devon and Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and parts of Dorset and Somerset.
No end date is announced: it runs until further notice. Companies lift restrictions after sustained rain, not on a fixed date.
Not with a hosepipe, sprinkler or pressure washer fed from the mains. A can or bucket is fine, as is a hosepipe fed from a butt or borehole. Commercial car washes are unrestricted.
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: South West 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. South West 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. South West Water supplies the entire south west water supply area: all of devon and cornwall, the isles of scilly, and parts of dorset and somerset.
No. Exeter is outside the affected area. Tiverton, which is EX16, is covered, but Exeter's EX1 to EX6 districts, Plymouth, Torbay and all of Cornwall are not.
Yes, in the affected areas. South West Water says the restriction covers anything connected to the mains, naming sprinklers, irrigation systems and pressure washers.
The supply area covers Cornwall, Devon, and parts of Dorset and Somerset, including the former Bournemouth Water area. Only the named Mid and East Devon towns and Lyme Regis fall inside the current notice.
7 outward postcode districts resolve to South West 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: Plymouth, Truro, Cornwall. 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: South West Water
South West Water does not publish drinking water quality data on the water industry's open data platform, so there is no hardness figure to read. We have asked them for it in writing. In the meantime their own customer pages are the place to check.
Source of record: South West Water’s own status page, last checked 16 September 2026. We do not publish a hosepipe ban on the strength of a news report; every status rests on a primary source.