A hosepipe ban affecting 10 million people began today and here’s how it impacts residents and organisations.

Due to unprecedented weather conditions Thames Water have announced a hosepipe ban, which started today.

The water company stated domestic customers should not use hosepipes for cleaning cars, watering gardens or allotments, filling paddling pools and swimming pools and cleaning windows.

It added that the recent heatwave and extreme temperatures have resulted in the highest demand in over 25 years with the company supplying 2.9 billion litres of water a day to customers across the London and Thames Valley region.

Some organisations in Bicester are self-sufficient, and therefore unaffected by the ban.

A spokesperson for Whiteland Farm Sports Ground said: “We’ve got 3D football pitches which don’t need to be watered, so they’re fine.

“All the grounds around the clubhouse have died back, the grass is dead. And a couple of rugby pitches are very bare.

Read more: Tesco store in Bicester has not had cash for six weeks

“But we have never watered them anyway, we don’t have an irrigation system, so the weather very much determines the condition of the grounds.”

A spokesperson for Bicester Golf Club said: “I don’t think the ban will affect us really. We have our own lakes, and we typically pump them to water the golf course.”

Manager of Bicester Avenue Garden Centre Dominique Hamilton said: “Thankfully we have brown water here.

“We have a very large rainwater collection tank. Without this, we would not fair well, as we water our stock daily.”

A spokesperson for Bicester Heritage said: “The grounds team don’t seem to use hosepipes on the estate.

“There was concern a little while ago because we have a grass airfield out in the centre which became very dry, but on the actual heritage site there are quite a few trees which protect a fair bit of the grassy area.”

However, a resident in Langford said: “My garden is absolutely awful, it’s very dry.

“But I don’t use a hosepipe, because it’s not ecologically sound and it’s not great to be using so much water during this weather.

Councillor for Bicester South and Ambrosden Chris Pruden said: “I think the ban is an inconvenience, but a necessary one.

“With the lack of rainfall with ever growing demand we must all be more careful with how we use water.

“We have seen how dry the rest of Europe has become, with rivers drying up for the first time in thousands of years.

“If we do not see sufficient rain anytime soon, we are at risk of similar problems.”

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1

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