This includes most of the South East and North West of England, as well as the East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. Businesses face water bansMore than 25 million households are currently under restrictions on water usage in the form of hosepipe bans. On Friday, South West Water became the latest to introduce restrictions on customers across Devon, Cornwall, parts of Dorset and Somerset and the Isles of Scilly. “We probably put almost 80 per cent more water on than we did last year.” The alert – for the East Midlands, West Midlands, South East, South West, East of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, and London – will last until at least 9pm on Tuesday.