Published: Updated:
Both suppliers last checked 16 September 2026.
A hosepipe ban applies to part of Bristol. Bristol Water and Wessex Water has a restriction in force here, so the answer depends on who supplies your address.
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 Bristol Water’s own notice is the version that legally applies to you.
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 Wessex Water’s own notice is the version that legally applies to you.
The BS postcode area is served by two separate water companies, and from Tuesday 18 August 2026 they are not in the same position. Wessex Water's Temporary Use Ban takes effect at one minute past midnight that morning; Bristol Water, which supplies the city itself, has issued no such notice. Two houses either side of a supply boundary, in the same postcode district, now fall under different rules.
This is not a technicality about branding. A Temporary Use Ban is made by an undertaker for the area it supplies, so it stops precisely where that company's pipes stop. There is no Bristol-wide answer to give, and a district-level one would be wrong for whichever half it missed.
The company that bills you for WATER is the one whose rules apply. It is not necessarily the company that handles your sewerage, and across much of this region those are two different names on two lines of the same bill. Wessex Water is the sewerage undertaker over a wider area than it supplies water to, which is the single most common way people here reach the wrong answer about themselves.
An address in central Bristol is almost certainly Bristol Water. One towards Bath, or out in the surrounding countryside, may well be Wessex Water. Boundaries follow historic pipework rather than council or postal lines, so the only reliable way to settle it is the address: check your postcode, then check it against the water line on your bill.
Bristol's tap water comes from Bristol Water, which supplies around 1.2 million people across the city, north Somerset and south Gloucestershire, reaching Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon, Portishead, Nailsea, Keynsham, Yate and the Chew Valley. The part that confuses people is who Bristol Water now is.
Bristol Water is no longer an independent water company. Its own legal page records the change: "On 1 February 2023, Bristol Water transferred to South West Water through an approved transfer scheme under Schedule 2 of the Water Industry Act 1991." The same page states that "South West Water became the provider of drinking water services to the area previously served by Bristol Water Plc following a variation to South West Water's licence and termination of Bristol Water Plc's licence by industry regulator Ofwat." The footer of every page on its website reads "South West Water Limited trading as Bristol Water, Registered in England No. 2366665".
So Bristol Water is a brand, and the undertaker is South West Water. That matters right now for one reason: South West Water has a hosepipe ban, in force since one minute past midnight on Saturday 8 August 2026. Its notice names Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Dorset and Somerset. It does not name Bristol, or the area Bristol Water supplies.
One undertaker can therefore run a restriction in part of its territory and none in the rest. Welsh Water is doing exactly that over about 33,000 properties in a single supply zone.
Quoted from Bristol Water’s own company information page.
On 11 August 2026, Will Willoughby, Wessex Water's director of water supply was still trying to avoid a restriction: "A ban is a last resort for us, and we don't want to introduce one, but we do need customers to help." He warned that "If demand doesn't reduce, we will need to introduce more formal restrictions to protect water supplies, which is why we're asking customers to work with us now to help avoid this." Reported alongside were surface reservoirs at 58 per cent of capacity at the end of July.
Six days later it published a notice. Dated 17 August 2026, it states: "The hosepipe ban starts on Tuesday 18 August at 00:01hrs." On who it reaches it is explicit, twice: "The ban applies to all customers in our region who we supply with water." So it is not confined to the four counties named in press coverage, and carries no exclusions. It also notes: "It's been 50 years since water restrictions were last needed in the Wessex Water region."
That interval matters if you are judging how much warning you would get. A voluntary appeal carries no legal restriction and no fine, so it is easy to read as the end of the story. Here it was the step immediately before a statutory notice, under a week earlier.
For Bristol Water customers the position is separate. Its own customer FAQ addresses it directly: “Bristol Water does not have a hosepipe ban in place, we will continue to monitor the situation closely and ensure that any changes are communicated to customers.” The two companies decide independently, so one publishing a notice tells you nothing about the other.
Wessex Water notice quoted from its own hosepipe ban page, 17 August 2026. The earlier appeal quotes reported by the Bath Echo, 11 August 2026. Bristol Water statement from its own customer FAQ.
Temporary Use Bans are made under section 76 of the Water Industry Act 1991, which lists the eleven prohibited uses at s.76(2). The Water Use (Temporary Bans) Order 2010 (SI 2010/2231) defines them. A company cannot invent its own list: the eleven uses below are the ones the Act allows a ban to cover, and they are the same on the Wessex Water side of the boundary as anywhere else in England and Wales.
The eleven prohibited uses are: watering a garden using a hosepipe; cleaning a private motor vehicle using a hosepipe; watering plants on domestic or other non-commercial premises using a hosepipe; cleaning a private leisure boat using a hosepipe; filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool; drawing water, using a hosepipe, for domestic recreational use; filling or maintaining a domestic pond using a hosepipe; filling or maintaining an ornamental fountain; cleaning walls, or windows, of domestic premises using a hosepipe; cleaning paths or patios using a hosepipe; cleaning other artificial outdoor surfaces using a hosepipe.
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 a water company can issue itself, and enforcement begins with a warning rather than a prosecution. A watering can, a bucket and water you have collected yourself are never restricted.
Exemptions are set by each company in its own notice rather than by the Order, so the detail varies between the two companies operating here. Wessex Water's notice frames its concessions around its Priority Services Register and a list of named medical conditions rather than around Blue Badge status, which is the pattern most other companies use, so a list read elsewhere is no guide to it.
Newly laid turf and new planting usually have a limited window, typically around 28 days from laying. Watering by hand with a can or bucket stays permitted throughout, and business use is exempt where the water use is the business itself rather than incidental to it.
A Temporary Use Ban can move quickly. Section 76B requires notice in a newspaper circulating in the area and on the company's website, but sets no minimum period, and the gap between announcement and effect is frequently days rather than weeks.
The thing to watch here is any change to the area named in South West Water's notice, because Bristol Water is South West Water and a variation extending it to the former Bristol Water area would change the answer for 1.2 million people at once. Wessex Water's own escalation, from a public appeal on 11 August to a notice six days later, is the realistic measure of how fast that can happen.
Older coverage is a real hazard for this question. Searches surface pages describing a Bristol hosepipe ban in the present tense that were written in earlier summers, often with no visible date. Check the date on anything you read, including this page, which states when each company's status was last checked.
No. South West Water's ban, in force from 8 August 2026, names Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Dorset and Somerset. It does not name Bristol. A ban applies to the area its notice states, not to everything one company owns. Bournemouth Water, the other South West Water brand, says the same of itself: no hosepipe ban in place. That is a sign rather than a proof, and the notice is what settles it.
Legally, yes. Bristol Water transferred to South West Water on 1 February 2023 under a Schedule 2 transfer scheme; Ofwat terminated Bristol Water Plc's licence and varied South West Water's to cover the area. Bristol Water continues as a brand serving about 1.2 million people.
Most of the city, plus north Somerset and south Gloucestershire, is Bristol Water. Bath and much of Somerset is Wessex Water. Your supplier is whoever bills you for water, not necessarily whoever handles your sewerage, and boundaries follow historic pipework rather than council lines, so check the postcode.
Wessex Water published a Temporary Use Ban notice dated 17 August 2026, stating that it 'starts on Tuesday 18 August at 00:01hrs' and 'applies to all customers in our region who we supply with water'. It is its first restriction in 50 years. The status card above shows the position resolved for a BS postcode.
Only if Wessex Water supplies your drinking water. Most of the city is Bristol Water; Wessex Water supplies parts of the surrounding area and towards Bath. Check the water line on your bill rather than the sewerage line, because Wessex Water handles sewerage across a wider area than it supplies water to, and check your postcode above.
Section 76(2) of the Water Industry Act 1991 lists eleven uses, including watering a garden, cleaning a private car, filling a domestic pool, and cleaning paths or patios, all where a hosepipe is used. The maximum is level 3 on the standard scale, currently £1,000, under section 76(5) of the Water Industry Act 1991. A watering can or bucket is never restricted.
Across the bans running this season, Blue Badge holders and Priority Services Register customers are normally exempt automatically, without applying. Exemptions are set in each company's own notice, so the specific terms would be published with any ban declared here.
Often only days. Section 76B requires notice in a local newspaper and on the company's website, but sets no minimum period, and South West Water's region-wide ban was announced and in force in the same week.
Searches surface coverage from previous summers, written in the present tense and often undated. An undated page describing a Bristol hosepipe ban may be describing a different year. Check the publication date on anything you read, including this page, which shows when each status was last checked.