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We cannot confirm South West 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 South West 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: South West Water has not published a customer count for this ban, and we do not estimate one. The restriction is defined by named areas, not by a headcount.
We could not confirm South West 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 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.
More: South West Water's own affected-area list.
Source: South West 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. South West 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: 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 beginning 14 July 2026, running 18 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
We could not confirm South West Water's current status from its own notice, so this site asserts nothing either way. Check South West Water's own notice before using a hosepipe.
Because we could not confirm it against South West 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 South West 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 South West 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: 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 named areas of mid devon and parts of east devon only.
South West Water's coverage is not uniform, and the last restriction we recorded for it covered only part of its area: Parts of Mid and East Devon only. Whether anything applies today is unconfirmed here, so check your postcode and South West Water's own notice.
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.
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.
8 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. 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
Source of record: South West 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.