Today's delayed lifting of a hosepipe ban by four water companies in the south-east of England has been defended as a "commonsense decision" by environment minister Ian Pearson.
After poor rainfall levels at the beginning of 2006 the water restrictions, introduced last summer, no longer need to be enforced because of above-average rainfall since September.
Because the south-east relies on slowly-changing groundwater levels for much of its water, rather than on rivers and reservoirs like the rest of the country, caution in maintaining the hosepipe ban was justified, Mr Pearson says.
"Today's move is a common sense decision by the companies to lift the hosepipe bans where the local situation justifies it" he commented.
"Ultimately it is up to each company to take the action that's right for the circumstances in their own area."
Thames Water, which was forced by regulator Ofwat to pay an extra £150 million to accelerate its infrastructure plans after allowing leakages of 894 million litres per day, is among the companies lifting a ban.
"We regretted having to impose the ban, our first in15 years, but given the severity of the drought, a cautious approach was needed to keep taps flowing without harming the environment by taking extra water from rivers," Richard Aylard of Thames Water commented.
"Our customers responded very positively to our appeals to use water wisely. Demand fell by as much as ten per cent, even at the peak of the heatwave in July," he added.
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