HOSEPIPE BANS & WATERING | What's allowed and when?
29/07/2026
Landscapeplus · Garden watering guide
Hosepipe bans: what's allowed by each water supplier
A quick side-by-side guide to garden watering, irrigation and new planting during a hosepipe ban (Temporary Use Ban).
Correct at the time of writing, July 2026. Rules, exemptions and ban status change with weather and reservoir conditions - always check your provider's latest guidance before relying on this.
Watering the garden, lawn or plants directly with a hosepipe is banned by every provider currently operating a ban. The grid below shows the main exceptions.
What each supplier allows
How to read the grid: the two left-hand methods - a watering can and a compliant drip/trickle system - are allowed throughout the ban, with no time limit. The middle group is separate: a standard hosepipe on new planting only, while it establishes (28 or 14 days), after which you revert to a can or a drip/trickle system.
| Allowed throughout the banno time limit | Standard hosepipe allowed temporarily: new planting onlywhile it establishes, then revert to a can or drip system | Other ongoing exceptions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water supplier | Watering can / buckethand watering | Drip / trickle irrigationto the soil | New turffirst 28 days | Newly-bought plantsfirst 14 days | Trees, hedges & saplingsrecent planting | Food crops / allotment | Ponds & fountainsfish / oxygenation |
| Anglian Water | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Dŵr Cymru (Welsh Water) | ✓ | ✓† | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| South West Water | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| Southern Water | ✓ | – | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓* | ✗ |
| Thames Water | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| United Utilities | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗‡ | ✓ | ✓ |
- Permitted - conditions apply, see below
- Not permitted - use a watering can instead
- Not specified by this provider - check directly
The conditions behind each ✓
Watering can / bucket Allowed throughout
Permitted everywhere; best early morning or evening. Thames also allows a hose no longer than 30 cm solely to fill a watering can.
Drip / trickle irrigation Allowed throughout
No time limit. Must have a timer and a pressure-reducing valve, must not be handheld, and must deliver water to the soil or roots, with no spray, mist or run-off.
New turf Temporary
Standard hosepipe for the first 28 days after laying, where a watering can isn't practical; then revert to a can or drip system.
Newly-bought plants Temporary
Standard hosepipe for the first 14 days after purchase.
Trees, hedges & saplings Temporary
Anglian and South West: planted within the last planting season. Dŵr Cymru and Thames: planted within the three years before the ban; Thames also allows street and urban trees, which sit outside the ban.
Food crops / allotment Ongoing
Allowed where a watering can isn't reasonably practical.
Ponds & fountains Ongoing
Only to top up a pond containing fish or other aquatic life, or to run a fountain that oxygenates a fishpond.
Suppliers with no ban & small print
No hosepipe ban at the time of writing: Northumbrian Water, Severn Trent, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water. If a ban is later introduced in your area, check that provider's rules at the time.
- †
- Dŵr Cymru. Has no drip-specific rule, but permits hosepipe watering of a garden generally where it can't reasonably be done with a watering can.
- *
- Southern (food crops). Only under its edible-produce exception, i.e. where a watering can isn't practical due to accessibility needs or the size of the plot.
- *
- Thames (new turf). Only where the turf or lawn was laid or sown by a business as a service; the hose may be used on the new turf only.
- ‡
- United Utilities (trees). No specific young-tree window, but newly-bought trees are covered by the 14-day newly-bought-plants allowance.
Automated irrigation during a ban
Automated irrigation systems are still permitted during a hosepipe ban, but only under strict conditions. Most water companies allow drip or trickle irrigation only - controlled by an automatic timer and fitted with a pressure reducer. Watering by can or bucket is unaffected, and so is water from a butt, greywater or a private supply.
Products that meet the requirements
Trusted products from Landscapeplus that comply with current water regulations: a timer, a pressure reducer, and suitable drip irrigation that delivers water to the soil with no spray or run-off.
Before you install or run anything: check the current restrictions in your own local area. Rules differ by supplier and by postcode, and they change as conditions change.
-
Tap timers
A timer lets watering run overnight, when evaporation is at its lowest - and it satisfies the "must be automatic, not handheld" condition. Our go-to timers for decades have been the Claber Video-2 Plus for a single outlet and the Claber Duplo where you need two.
-
Pressure reducer
This drops the pressure before the water reaches the emitters. Running at a steady low pressure reduces the chance of joints failing and leaking, and it stops the misting that would breach the no-spray condition. One option is these in-line pressure reducers, which bring the pressure down to 1 bar - all you need for drip irrigation.
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The irrigation itself
Drip pipe - for larger areas
Suitable for bigger spaces, with pipe runs spaced roughly 30cm apart and a dripper every 300mm along the pipe. Techline is our go-to here, available in 50m or 100m rolls. We'd recommend it for large beds and borders, around trees and under hedges - and it can be mulched over to cut evaporation and hold more moisture in the soil.
Micro irrigation - for targeted planting
The alternative is micro irrigation, specifically micro drippers. To stay within a hosepipe ban we'd suggest the pressure-compensating drippers from Antelco. They come in two forms: in-line, for continuing the micro pipe run past each dripper, and end-line, which acts as the end point of a run.
Top tips from LSP
- Always set timers to water overnight.
- Mulch over your drip line to reduce evaporation.
- Water less frequently, but thoroughly.
Planning a system?
For information and help planning your customer's irrigation system, contact the team at Landscapeplus: sales@landscapeplus.com.
Summary of garden-watering rules during hosepipe bans across UK water suppliers. All information correct as at July 2026. Landscapeplus.