Thames Water, a water supply company serving customers in and around Londonannounced today that it is banning its customers from using watering cans effective August 24 due to a prolonged drought.

OUR Britannia officially declared a drought in parts of England on Friday as July this year was the region’s driest in nearly 90 years, when temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius for the first time.

“With little rain forecast for the coming months, we now need to move to the next step in our drought management plan,” the company said in a statement posted on its website.

“Everything we do now will help protect our stocks next summer and help the environment,” he adds.

Prior to Thames Water, other companies in England introduced this ban, which aims to prevent their customers from using watering cans to water their gardens, wash cars or fill inflatable pools.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}