First UK drought order in years comes into force

LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) The first drought order in England and Wales since 1995 came into force today hitting 650,000 people around Sutton, southwest of London, ironically as much of the country faces yet another wet weekend.

May has turned out to be the wettest on record since 1983 although rainfall has been below average for over a year.

About 270,000 properties served by Sutton and East Surrey water will be affected by the drought order which will ban hose pipe watering of gardens, the washing of cars, the filling of swimming pools and the watering of parks and sports grounds.

''We are currently experiencing one of the driest periods in the south-east of England for almost 100 years. Water resources are scarce with the lowest levels ever being recorded at some of our boreholes,'' the company said.

The issue of drought orders has become contentious in recent months as water company customers complain the utilities are not doing enough themselves to conserve water.

Last July, Thames Water, Britain's largest water company which services 8 million people, was criticised by regulator Ofwat for losing 915 million litres of water a day through leaking pipes.

Despite the recent rain, southeast England has less water available per person than parts of Sudan, a government body has said. The Environment Agency believes there is a ''real risk'' of people being forced to queue for water at temporary standpipes in the streets this year.

According to the experts, rainfall since late 2004 has been below average for most months and 2005 was the third-driest year on record, drier even than the memorable drought year of 1976.

REUTERS SY ND1654