Two major English water companies are moving towards restrictions on business water use as the 2026 drought deepens, a step that could hit sectors such as leisure and property services and add new operating pressures for firms across southern and eastern England.
Regulatory move targets businesses rather than households
Southern Water has applied to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for a drought order including a non-essential use ban (NEUB) covering Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Anglian Water, which serves about seven million customers mainly in the east of England, has confirmed it will consider similar measures if supplies worsen.
Unlike the hosepipe bans currently in force in nine supply areas – which primarily restrict household outdoor watering – a non-essential use ban specifically targets business activities. The regulator Ofwat says NEUBs would require firms to stop a range of tasks that underpin daily operations at many companies.
“We are appealing for people to be as efficient as possible, particularly over the next few days and weeks as we get through this dry period to help avoid further restrictions,”
— Dr Geoff Darch, head of strategic asset planning at Anglian Water.
Which business activities could be affected
Ofwat’s description of non-essential uses includes several items with direct implications for businesses’ maintenance routines and customer-facing services. Affected activities listed by the regulator include:
- Filling or maintaining non-domestic swimming pools, paddling pools and ponds
- Operating mechanical vehicle washers and cleaning vehicles
- Cleaning non-domestic premises and windows
- Other cleaning activities at business premises
For a golf club, that would extend beyond visible landscape watering to the back-of-house maintenance: machinery wash-down after cutting, clubhouse window and premises cleaning, and any onsite leisure pool use could all fall within the ban. The source notes irrigation of sports turf is generally governed by separate abstraction licensing rather than NEUBs, but many abstraction licences themselves are already constrained.
Existing abstraction limits and the wider squeeze
The Environment Agency is reporting increasingly stringent conditions on river flows and has placed restrictions on more than 1,350 abstraction licences. That means clubs and other businesses that rely on private boreholes or reservoirs are not automatically protected simply because they do not draw from the public mains.
| Company / Regulator | Action cited |
|---|---|
| Southern Water | Applied to Defra for drought order and NEUB covering Hampshire & Isle of Wight |
| Anglian Water | Preparing to consider business restrictions; serves ~7 million customers |
| Ofwat | Defines activities that would be banned under NEUBs |
| Environment Agency | Over 1,350 abstraction licences already subject to restriction |
For businesses, the practical consequences are twofold. First, direct operational costs may rise if firms must change how they conduct maintenance, cleaning or leisure services — for example by paying for offsite cleaning, investing in water-efficient equipment, or buying in treated water. Second, there are potential revenue impacts where services must be curtailed: leisure pools closed, fewer vehicle valets, or reduced clubhouse amenities will affect customer spend at hospitality and leisure venues.
Economic implications: wages, prices and jobs
There is a clear knock-on to labour and prices. If firms face higher operating costs from sourcing alternative water or contracting services, some may seek to pass those costs to customers through higher prices. In lower-margin parts of the market — small golf clubs, independent leisure facilities, and SMEs providing cleaning or vehicle services — operators may face pressure on profitability that could affect staffing decisions.
While the immediate priority for water firms is managing supply, businesses and regulators will need to weigh the trade-offs between conserving scarce resources and protecting employment and services in affected communities. The unfolding measures underline how climate-related stresses are shifting from long-term environmental risk to near-term business disruption.
With formal drought orders and bans a matter of regulatory process, firms in the affected regions should be monitoring official guidance and preparing contingency plans for maintenance schedules, contract arrangements and customer communication to limit disruption if non-essential use bans are imposed.
