Hooray! We can now hose the garden ( just in time for Xmas)

A HOSEPIPE ban has finally been lifted after 90 days of restrictions that affected 10million people.

The Thames Water ban was imposed on August 24, a month after Britain recorded an alltime record high temperature of 104.5F (40. C).

On pain of a £1,000 fine, customers were forbidden from using a hosepipe to water gardens, wash cars, clean homes or fill swimming pools.

Thames Water announced yesterday that the long ban, its first in 27 years, had finally been lifted after recent downpours in the South. It explained: ‘In many places the ground is becoming wet enough for water to sink down into the underground sources that feed local rivers.’

Forecasts suggest that if the UK gets just 60 per cent of its usual winter rain underground sources and rivers will return to a healthy level.

But South East Water, Yorkshire Water and South West Water still have hosepipe bans in place.

Yorkshire Water said: ‘In some areas reservoir levels are still lower than we would hope.’

South West Water pointed out that bans were ‘only in place for parts of the region where levels are especially low, and not the whole region’.

Water UK, for the whole industry, said: ‘Recent downpours, while welcome, have not done enough to make up for ten months of dry weather and an exceptionally hot summer.’

Hosepipe bans and other restrictions were criticised after reports of major leaks, including Thames Water losing around a quarter of the 2.6billion litres it supplies every day.