Residents have been left angry at a “painful” hosepipe ban that will impact hundreds of thousands of Wiltshire locals including those in Marlborough.
Thames Water recently announced a temporary ban starting on Tuesday, July 22, which will be enforced on all Thames Water customers with an SN postcode.
At this stage the length of the ban is unknown.
Some residents have been angered by the move, claiming there has been a lack of investment in Thames Water infrastructure over recent years.
They feel the elderly will be hit hardest by the ban and may struggle to tend to their gardens with watering cans.
One of the towns where the ban will be implemented is Marlborough, where town councillors described the decision as “painful but necessary.”
“It will obviously have an impact on people because they need to look after their gardens and it’s laborious to use watering cans.”
Others feel the measures are needed because of a lack of investment in Wiltshire and have been brought in too late to make an impact.
Cllr Kelvyn Shantry added: “It’s too little too late, we’ve not invested in our infrastructure for too long, we’ve had no new reservoirs for 50 years.
“This should have come in a month ago.”
Cllr Caroline Sadler fears that the extreme weather conditions Marlborough has faced in recent years is a sign of the growing impact of climate change.
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She said: “We’ve had no sign of rain for quite a long time, you can see how parched the grassland and everything is so I could see it coming.
“It’s not unexpected but after the floods now we’ve got this drought and it’s climate change in action unfortunately.”
Nevil Muncaster, strategic water resources director at Thames Water, said: “This has been a challenging spring and summer with big spikes in customer demand during hot dry days and very little rainfall to replenish local supplies in the Thames Valley.
“Given the continued warm, dry weather we do not anticipate that the situation will improve any time soon so we have to take action now.
“Every drop of water we use comes from the environment and we have to balance protecting this while taking out the water needed to top-up reservoir levels.
“That is why we have had to make the difficult decision to implement a hosepipe ban to make sure there’s enough water for customers’ essential needs and to protect rivers.”
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