How is the hosepipe ban changing in Sussex?

An expanded hosepipe ban has come into force for South East Water customers across Sussex.

The supplier first introduced restrictions to the area in July.

Multiple exemptions to the ban have been removed - effective from 9 October - while an application for restrictions affecting businesses remains pending.

The households affected by the change are South East Water customers in Sussex.

This includes Burgess Hill, Crowborough, Battle and Eastbourne.

Other South East Water customers in Kent, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire are also subject to a hosepipe ban, but exemptions are still in place in these areas.

Restrictions have prohibited using a hose for purposes including watering your garden, washing a vehicle or filling a paddling pool since July, but with some exemptions.

Now the only exemptions are for health and safety reasons or for animal welfare.

Vulnerable people on the company's Priority Services Register were previously exempt from the rules, but are now also banned.

Businesses that used a hosepipe to serve domestic customers, such as window cleaners, gardeners, jet washers or taxi drivers cleaning their cars, were previously exempt.

They are now no longer allowed to use a hosepipe, apart from for health and safety reasons, and have been encouraged to use buckets, watering cans, collected rainwater or other alternatives.

Activities like commercial farming or garden centres are not classed as "domestic" and so do not fall under the hosepipe ban.

South East Water has applied to restrict some other commercial uses of water, such as cleaning windows at commercial premises, but this is not yet confirmed.

The water level at Ardingly Reservoir, which serves 280,000 South East Water customers in Sussex, was reported to be at 20% of its capacity as of 4 October.

This has triggered the next stage of the company's drought plan, which begins action to protect supplies, including these rule changes.

Other action includes returning less water to local rivers. The Environment Agency has granted a special permit for this.

South East Water has attributed low reservoir levels to record-breaking dry weather conditions in recent months, which reduced river flows and "put pressure on groundwater sources".

Hot weather over the summer will also have increased demand for water.

The company says it needs more rainfall to restore reservoir levels.

South East Water has also struggled to manage leaks in its network.

Higher than usual numbers of leaks have been attributed to the weather conditions causing the soil to dry out and pipes to shift, increasing the chance of bursts. The firm said it fixed 21,000 network leaks and 6,000 customer-side leaks in the past year.

According to the company's latest annual report it missed its leakage target, which looks at a three-year rolling average of water leaked.

Data from watchdog Ofwat for 2025-26 shows the company loses more than 100 million litres per day on average across its coverage areas.

South East Water says it provides 550 million litres of water every day on average.

A spokesperson said the company had extra teams fixing "more leaks than ever" and spends £63m annually on leak detection and repairs.

South East Water has not confirmed when the restrictions will next change.

The company told customers the ban would continue until it was "confident that water resources have recovered" but that it would be kept "under constant review".

The Environment Agency considers much of England, including Sussex, to be in drought and expects above-average rain is needed for the next seven months for that to change.

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