A village in Oxfordshire has become the first place in the UK to run out of water, as parts of the UK are hit by water shortages ahead of a Met Office amber warning for extreme heat coming into force this week.
Residents in Northend, a community situated between Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, have been left without running water following the latest heatwave.
Residents were forced to rely on deliveries of bottled and tanker water.
Footage aired on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday morning showed Thames Water, which operates in the area, handing out emergency supplies in the village.
The company later said it had managed to "improve the situation" and that all customers in the nearby area should now have water but warned that pressure could be lower than normal.
Northend's water is supplied by Stokenchurch Reservoir, which had reportedly run dry after exceptionally hot weather recently.
"We're continuing to use tankers to pump water into the local supply network and working on other ways to boost supplies to the area," it added.
A number of other reservoirs, rivers and aquifers have also dried up across the UK, with water levels expected to decrease further due to a lack of rain.
With more hot weather forecasted for the next few days, there are now growing concerns over water shortages and an increase in wildfires.
Thames Water on Tuesday announced it would bring in a temporary hosepipe ban across parts of London, Surrey, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, and Kent.
The timing was not confirmed "due to a number of operational and legal procedural requirements", the water provider said, adding that customers would be updated at the earliest time possible.
The statement issued by Thames Water said the company had been preparing for the summer since winter, filling their reservoirs in London and providing water-saving tips.
"Our aim is always to ensure that we will have enough water to supply our customers, regardless of the weather," the statement said.
"Given the long-term forecast of dry weather and another forecast of very hot temperatures coming this week we are planning to announce a temporary use ban in the coming weeks."
In the meantime, customers were urged to only use what they needed for their essential use, it added.
The Met Office's weather warning will come into force for parts of England and Wales from Thursday to Sunday, with temperatures set to climb to 35C or even 36C in some places.
Tuesday saw the mercury rise into the high 20s across parts of southern and central England, hitting 30.1C in Ross-On-Wye in Herefordshire.
Elsewhere, grass fires broke out with about 70 firefighters and 10 fire engines battling a blaze between Junction 25 and Junction 26 of the M25, near Enfield, north London, on Tuesday afternoon.
London Fire Brigade said about five hectares of grass and shrubland were alight while footage shared on social media showed flames and thick black smoke billowing by the motorway, where two lanes have been closed.
Another huge fire broke out on Rushmere Heath, near Ipswich, Suffolk, with people told to avoid the area and residents advised to keep doors and windows closed due to the smoke.
Meanwhile, a 14-year-old boy died on Tuesday after getting into difficulty in a lake in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.
Emergency services were called to the scene at North Met Lake, off Cadmore Lane, just after 5pm on Monday after reports that a teenager had not re-surfaced after being in the water.
Hertfordshire Constabulary said a body was recovered hours later and the boy's next of kin have been informed.
Later on Tuesday, police announced that emergency services were searching for a man in his early 20s who has gone missing in a lake off Challenge Road, Hounslow, west London.
Scotland Yard said officers were called to the scene at 17:20pm and were told that the man had entered the water and had failed to return to shore.
The force said that a search, supported by the National Police Air Service and Marine Policing Unit, is ongoing and that the man's family has been informed.
Temperatures are not set to be as extreme as those in July which smashed records when the thermometer climbed to above 40C in some areas in the UK for the first time.
