Why Peterborough storms won't mean the end of the hosepipe ban
For the first time in months, Peterborough has been left underwater after a deluge arrived.
The heavy rain is good news for some – and it has raised hopes that the long running hosepipe ban could be coming to an end.
However, Anglian Water have put a dampener on those hopes.
A spokesperson said: “Our region is on course to experience its driest spring and summer period since records began in 1899, and this summer is also likely to be the hottest on record for England. The Environment Agency declared a drought for the East of England at the end of July, with the rest of the Anglian Water region being moved to drought status on 10 August.
“After no significant rain for the last few months – with our region seeing just 3% of the usual rainfall in July – it will take a long time, probably several months, to recover from this drought.”
They added: “In the East of England, about half our water comes from river and reservoir sources, and the other half comes from underground sources (we call this groundwater).
“River flows tend to recover more quickly than our other sources. This is helpful for our reservoirs because they are filled by pumping water from these rivers. However, due to their large size, the reservoirs need consistently high river flows for a prolonged period of time to allow us to capture enough water to return them to normal levels. Although helpful, initial heavy rainfall doesn’t always lead to a quick fix.
“It is a similar story for our groundwater sources, which collect water from underground aquifers. After months without meaningful rainfall, the ground is very dry and hard. This means that when we do get rain, it runs straight off the surface instead of soaking in and replenishing our underground water sources. Our experts have estimated that we’ll need to see about 100mm of rainfall across our region just to return to a normal level of saturation. This means that until this point is reached, only some of the rain that falls will be effectively refilling our water sources. Once the ground is saturated, only a further period of prolonged rainfall will then help to fully refill our sources.
“For context, the Anglian region receives around 630mm of rainfall a year. Although we’re two thirds of the way through 2026, so far we’ve had less than half of that (270mm) – so it is likely to be several months before rivers, reservoirs and groundwater sources are back to normal levels.”
The spokesperson said that just because it was a wet winter last year, it doesn’t mean water levels have remained high.
They said: “We’d typically expect our water sources to recover (or ‘recharge’) over the autumn and winter, when it’s usually wetter. But last year, after the very dry spring and summer, not all our sources returned to normal levels.
“It’s also important that we leave as much water in the environment as possible. As a water company, our top priority is making sure we keep our customers’ taps flowing, come rain or shine. But protecting and enhancing the environment is also at the heart of everything we do. We follow strict abstraction licence conditions set by the Environment Agency. This allows us to take water from rivers when it is plentiful, but ensures that we minimise our impact on the environment when river flows are low.
“Despite a couple of wet winter months, this year the East of England has experienced its second driest spring on record, and July was the UK’s sunniest and driest on record, with just 1.6mm of rainfall on average across the East of England (3% of the long-term average rainfall expected for this time of year).
“This is particularly important against the backdrop of last year, when the East of England experienced the second driest spring and summer ever (behind 1976, a record we are likely to break this year), and the warmest summer on record in the UK. This meant many of our water resources were at low levels heading into winter 2025/26.”