News / rainwater barrel
Hosepipe ban in force for millions of households - is your area affected?
Hosepipe bans are now in place for parts of the country.
Kent hosepipe ban
South East Water Imposes Hosepipe Ban in Kent from 25 June 2026
South East Water has announced a temporary hosepipe ban for customers in Kent, effective from the 25th June 2026. The company confirmed the restriction would be publicly announced at 09:00 on 25 June 2026, with legal enforcement beginning at 00:01 on the 3rd July 2026.
The ban follows record-breaking demand for water during a prolonged heatwave, which has placed significant strain on local supplies. South East Water is the only UK water company to have issued a hosepipe ban so far in June 2026.
What’s Banned?
Under the restrictions, it is illegal to use a hosepipe for:
Watering gardens, allotments, or plants.
Cleaning vehicles (including driveways).
Filling or topping up swimming pools, ponds, or fountains.
Washing windows or outdoor surfaces.
Fines of up to £1,000 may apply for repeat offenders.
Why Now?
Southern England has experienced below-average rainfall for 18 months, with reservoirs and groundwater levels critically low. The Environment Agency has warned that without immediate action, water restrictions could spread across the South East.
How to Adapt
Gardeners are encouraged to use water butts to collect rainwater and adopt drought-resistant gardening practices.
A 227 litre water butt kit is a practical and environmentally-friendly addition to any garden. Here’s why it’s worth considering:
1. Reliable water supply for your garden
A water butt provides a steady source of water for watering plants, even during hosepipe bans in summer. This means your garden stays healthy without relying on mains water during dry spells.
2. Saves money and reduces water waste
By collecting and reusing rainwater, you cut down on your water bills and lower your household’s overall water usage. This is especially useful for tasks like watering plants, cleaning outdoor spaces, or even washing gardening tools.
3. Supports sustainable living
Using a water butt helps you play a part in water conservation. Since daily water usage has nearly tripled since 1950, capturing rainwater is a simple way to reduce your environmental footprint and promote a more sustainable lifestyle.
4. Easy to use and efficient
The 227 litre kit is designed to be space-efficient and durable.
Water butts available to order here
Drought tolerant plants for your garden
Garden plants that are drought tolerant can reduce the need for watering during the summer. Trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials etc.
Two new sizes for water butt double kits
Two new water butt double kit sizes now available.
Water shortage
The government has issued advice on how to save water, due to very low levels in some parts of the country. Five regions are officially in drought. Top of the list is to get a water butt, to save rainwater to water the garden with. See the water butt section in the menu above, to order one if you want. Various sizes available.
The last on the list was more obscure. Delete emails to reduce storage memory being used, as data centres use a lot of water to keep cool.
Hosepipe ban - Yorkshire
Today a hosepipe ban was announced for the Yorkshire region, and it is expected to last until winter. In previous years when hosepipe bans have been announced there has been a surge of water butt orders, with some sizes going out of stock, and longer delivery times. If you want to catch any falling rain and store it for watering your garden, a water butt kit that fits onto your drainpipe works great. Various sizes are for sale in the water butts category.
https://www.gardenis.co.uk/collections/water-butts
Extremely dry weather.
It has been very dry for weeks. The photo below shows gauges in the river. Typically the water is at the 2nd post. In flood it can be well past where the photo was taken. It's dry all over Britain. Just today the news said Scotland has had the driest start to the year since 1964. Who knows, the weather might change to constant downpours, but if it remains drier than average there could be summer hosepipe bans. If this happens, there is usually a surge of orders for water butts. To avoid the queues for delivery you could order now, to get your water butt kit ready and collect any rain that falls. Various sizes and types are available in the water butt section.
What are the benefits of having a water butt in autumn and winter?
Although the main benefit of having a water kit is to save water in summer, to water the lawn, veg patch and flowers. They do have some benefits in the autumn and winter months when there is a lot more rain.
Firstly, if you have a water meter installed, you will want to use the mains taps as infrequently as possible, to save money. So, you can use the water in your water butts to fill buckets to hand-wash the car, or for mopping floors, cleaning greenhouse glass panels, patios etc.
Another more communal benefit, is how it can slow the flow of water going down drains during periods of heavy rain, which can increase flood risk, and also use of sewage outflow pipes into rivers. (During high rainfall periods, these pipes are used to prevent waste water backing up pipes.)
An Olympic swimming pool holds 2.5 million litres of water. If 6,300 homes , of a small town, all installed a 200 litre water butt double kit, (400 litres total), it would save 2.52 million litres from going straight into the drain network, during a heavy downpour. With an Olympic swimming pool worth of water saved in the water butts, this could lower the risk of some local flooding, and reduce the use of a nearby sewage outflow pipe into the river.
200 litre water butt double kit, available to buy here;
https://www.gardenis.co.uk/products/200-litre-water-butt-kit-double-200-litre-water-butt-kit
Image - Wiki creative commons / Kallerna
Water Butts - Good availability now
After a very busy late summer due to the drought conditions, the water butts are available again. The 200 litre double kit (400 litres in total) is the bestseller, and had to be put off sale for a while, to clear a backlog of outstanding orders. Everything is almost back to normal, so it is back on sale now, along with the 227 litre size, which had been out of stock.
If you are thinking of getting a water butt sometime in the coming year, please, if you can afford to, buy it over the autumn and winter. This is a quieter period, so deliveries are generally faster, and you can get it all set up for spring. Every year, everyone waits until it is summer, then orders, and this creates longer delivery times, as too many people order all at once. As you can imagine, a drought being declared in August, with hosepipe bans, made this a much bigger problem than normal.
Water butts can be ordered here;
https://www.gardenis.co.uk/collections/grow-your-own
