A trade union in Swindon has called Thames Water's hosepipe ban "disgraceful" and criticised the company for wasting "billions" of litres of water.
On the morning of Monday, July 14, the utility provider announced the restriction, which will begin at midnight on Tuesday, July 22, for all customers with an SN postcode as well as some in OX, GL, RG4, RG8 and RG9 postcodes.
GMB national officer Gary Carter said: “Thames Water lost 200 billion litres of water through leaks last year.
“That’s 570 million litres wasted every single day - the worst in the country.
“GMB members at Thames are working hard and doing the best they can, but they’ve had their hands tied behind their backs by crumbling infrastructure and non-existent investment.
“For Thames Water to now impose a hosepipe, while bills rocket, is disgraceful.”
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A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Leakage is at its lowest ever level on our network, but we know we have more work to do to reduce leakage.
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"We’re fixing 650 leaks a week with our engineers targeting leaks with the greatest impact to local water supplies.
“We’re also using innovative technology and data to find and fix leaks faster. So far we have installed almost 40,000 acoustic loggers on its water network to help detect leaks and expects to have 100,000 in place by mid-2027.
“We’ve installed over one million smart meters, which are critical in helping us to locate leaks at our customers' homes.
"We’ll continue to roll out smart water meters to households in our area, installing or upgrading a further c.1,200,000 smart meters to homes and businesses by 2030.”
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