The water supplier for Kent and Sussex has become the latest to announce a hosepipe ban citing demand this summer breaking "all previous records" amid "extreme" dry conditions.
In a statement on its website, South East Water said: "This has been a time of extreme weather conditions across the UK. Official figures show this is the driest July on record since 1935 and the period between November 2021 and July 2022 has been the driest eight-month stint since 1976.
"During July in the south east, we have only seen 8% of average rainfall for the month, and the long term forecast for August and September is for similar weather. The demand for water this summer has broken all previous records, including the Covid lockdown heatwave.
