Is there a hosepipe ban in Surrey? Town-by-town status (July 2026).

The quick answer: no. There is no hosepipe ban in Surrey as of 2 July 2026. SES Water, which supplies Redhill, Reigate and most of east Surrey, has no ban and none planned, because its supply comes mainly from underground aquifers^[1]. Same Day Jetwash is working as normal, with driveway cleaning from £3 per square metre.

The neighbours are a different story. South East Water’s ban for its Kent customers is enforceable from 00:01 on 3 July 2026^[3], Southern Water already has one running in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and England is in formal drought status with some reservoirs at 50–60% of capacity^[6]. So the question people round here are actually asking, “does any of this apply to me?”, comes down to one thing: which water company bills you. The tables below sort that out for every town we cover. If you want the full legal picture on jet washing during a ban, that’s in our hosepipe ban rules guide.

Current status by water company

Four water companies matter across our 20-mile patch. Here’s where each one stands. Last verified: 2 July 2026. We re-check this table weekly through the summer, because a stale “no ban” page is worse than no page at all.

One line worth sitting with: the reason our area is fine isn’t luck, it’s geology. SES Water pulls roughly 85% of its supply from underground aquifers in the chalk and greensand, with only 15% from its reservoir at Bough Beech^[2]. Aquifers refill slowly and drain slowly, so one scorching June doesn’t empty them the way it empties a reservoir. That’s why Kent gets a ban and Redhill doesn’t, twenty-odd miles apart.

Which water company serves your town

Water company boundaries don’t follow town signs, and nobody knows their supplier until something like this happens. Here’s the map for all 17 towns we cover, checked against the suppliers’ own published supply areas^[2]. If you’re right on the edge of a village, the name on your water bill is the final word, and every supplier has a postcode checker on its website.

A couple of honest notes on that table. SES Water publishes its supply area as running from Morden and South Croydon in the north down to Gatwick Airport, and from Cobham, Leatherhead and Dorking in the west across to Edenbridge in the east^[2], which puts every Surrey town above inside it. But supply boundaries wiggle at the edges rather than following parish lines, so for Betchworth and Chipstead, where we couldn’t pin the boundary to the metre, we’ve said so rather than guessed. Either way it doesn’t change the answer: no supplier serving any of those towns has a ban on. Full list of everywhere we work is on our areas page.

What changes if a ban arrives here

Worth knowing what a Temporary Use Ban actually restricts, so the headlines don’t catch you out. Under section 76 of the Water Industry Act 1991, a ban stops domestic hosepipe use: watering the garden or plants with a hosepipe, washing the car or boat, filling pools, ponds and fountains, cleaning walls or windows of your house, and cleaning paths, patios and other artificial outdoor surfaces^[4]. Breaking it is a criminal offence with a fine of up to £1,000.

Two things people miss. First, it’s the hosepipe that’s banned, not the water: a bucket and a watering can stay legal, and so does kit fed from a water butt or tank. Second, the ban is written for householders, businesses using water for their day-to-day trade are generally exempt^[7]. The full rules, the fines, and the professional exemption are all unpacked in our pressure washing during a hosepipe ban guide.

Can you still have your driveway or patio cleaned in Surrey right now?

Yes. Twice over.

First, there’s no ban anywhere in our Surrey patch, so nothing is restricted for anyone, us or you. Second, even where bans ARE in force, professional exterior cleaning is generally exempt because it’s day-to-day business use, Yorkshire Water’s published business guidance is the clearest wording on this and other companies take the same line^[7]. So a driveway clean or a patio clean books exactly as normal: prices from £3 per square metre as per our pricing page, quote within minutes, callback within two hours.

If anything, midsummer is a decent time to do it. The surface dries fast, you see the finished result the same afternoon, and you’re using the patio while it looks its best instead of cleaning it in October for nobody.

What we’re doing about water use

Fair question in a drought summer, so here’s the straight version. We bring our own water tank on the van for most jobs, so we’re not draining your outside tap or your bill. Our machines meter flow at a set number of litres per minute through a surface cleaner, which puts water exactly where it’s working instead of hosing it across the garden, a garden hose left running is the wasteful way to clean a drive, not the professional one. And where a surface wants chemistry rather than volume, moss and algae treatment for instance, we treat and rinse rather than trying to blast it off with sheer water. None of that makes us saints, it’s just how the job’s done properly, but it does mean a booked-in clean uses a lot less water than a DIY weekend with a hired washer running for two days.

Areas we cover

We work right across Surrey within 20 miles of Redhill (RH1): Redhill, Reigate, Dorking, Horley, Banstead, Caterham, Oxted, Leatherhead, Crawley, and all 15+ areas. Every one of them is ban-free as of 2 July 2026, see the table above for who supplies what.

Quote within minutes, callback within two hours during business hours (Mon–Sat 8am–6pm). If you just want to know whether the water situation affects a job you’re planning, call 01737 652 515 and we’ll tell you straight in two minutes.

Sources

Every status claim on this page is sourced to the water companies themselves, government drought reporting or named news coverage, and re-verified weekly through summer 2026.

1. Surrey Live, “Surrey water companies hopeful of avoiding hosepipe ban.” Reports SES Water, Thames Water and Affinity Water saying Surrey resources are “in a good place”, with SES supply majority-drawn from underground aquifers. getsurrey.co.uk, Surrey water companies. Accessed 1 July 2026.
2. SES Water, “About SES Water.” Confirms the supply area (Morden and South Croydon to Gatwick Airport; Cobham, Leatherhead and Dorking across to Edenbridge), 750,000+ people supplied, and that 85% of supply is groundwater with 15% from Bough Beech reservoir. Basis for the town-supplier table and the aquifer explanation. seswater.co.uk, about us. Accessed 2 July 2026.
3. South East Water, “Temporary Use Ban 2026.” Official notice of the Kent Temporary Use Ban, enforceable from 00:01 on 3 July 2026, with voluntary restraint urged across its wider area. southeastwater.co.uk, TUB 2026. Accessed 1 July 2026.
4. South East Water, Temporary Use Ban Kent FAQs. Source for the banned domestic uses under section 76 of the Water Industry Act 1991, including cleaning paths, patios and other artificial outdoor surfaces, and the fine on conviction. southeastwater.co.uk, Kent TUB FAQs. Accessed 1 July 2026.
5. ITV News Meridian, “Hosepipe ban announced for thousands of South East Water customers” (25 June 2026). Independent confirmation of the Kent ban announcement and customer numbers. itv.com, hosepipe ban announced. Accessed 1 July 2026.
6. UK Government (GOV.UK), “Dry weather and drought in England: 18 to 26 June 2026.” Official drought reporting: England in drought status, some reservoirs at 50–60% capacity, Southern Water Temporary Use Ban in force. gov.uk, dry weather and drought report. Accessed 1 July 2026.
7. Yorkshire Water, “How the hosepipe ban affects your business.” The clearest published business-exemption wording: commercial operators may use customers’ hosepipes “where it is directly related to your day-to-day business excluding the watering of domestic gardens”. Cited as the industry-standard position on professional cleaning during a ban. yorkshirewater.com, business hosepipe ban. Accessed 1 July 2026.