MILLIONS of people in the North West of England are facing a hosepipe ban, water company United Utilities has announced.

The firm said the move comes after what is believed to be the longest heatwave since 1976 and will affect seven million customers.

The hosepipe ban, known as a Temporary Use Ban, will come into force on Sunday, August 5.

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It will affect Ellesmere Port, Frodsham and Helsby, and parts of Chester.

However, many households in Chester are supplied by Hafren Dyfrdwy (Severn Dee), formerly Dee Valley Water.

Hafren Dyfrdwy has no plans for a hose pipe ban put does provide advice on its websites to help customers save water during the hot weather.

United Utilities has an address checker on its website for customers to check if their property is affected by the ban.

The ban will apply to domestic customers who get their water supply from United Utilities, with the exception of customers in Carlisle and the north Eden Valley, where supplies remain at reasonable levels.

Those who flout it will receive a warning from United Utilities. They could ultimately be prosecuted and face a £1,000 fine.

Martin Padley, United Utilities water services director, said: “Despite some recent rainfall, reservoir levels are still lower than we would expect at this time of year and, with forecasters predicting a return to hot dry weather for the rest of July, we are now at a point where we will need to impose some temporary restrictions on customers.

“It is not a decision we have taken lightly and we are enormously grateful to customers for having helped reduce the demand on our network over the last couple of weeks, but unless we get a period of sustained rainfall before August 5 these restrictions will help us safeguard essential water supplies for longer.”

The ban restricts the use of hosepipes or sprinklers for watering private gardens and washing private cars but customers will still be able to water their gardens with a watering can and wash their vehicles using a bucket and sponge, which uses a fraction of the amount of water a hosepipe or sprinkler uses.

A hosepipe uses 540 litres an hour, as much as a family-of-four would use in one day, while a sprinkler left running overnight uses as much water as a family-of-four would use in one week, according to United Utilities.

A hosepipe ban can reduce water usage by 5-10pc, according to research by United Kingdom Water Industry Research, which in the North West would amount to over 100 million litres per day.

United Utilities said the ban was alongside the company’s efforts to maintain essential supplies, including maximising water abstraction from ground water supplies, moving water around its regional integrated network of pipes and running a campaign to encourage customers to use water wisely.