The Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

Temporary hosepipe bans

116.—(1) If a water undertaker is of the opinion that a serious deficiency of water available for distribution by that undertaker exists or is threatened, that undertaker may, for such period as it thinks necessary, prohibit or restrict, as respects the whole or any part of its area, the use for the purpose of—

(a) watering private gardens; or

(b) washing private motor cars,

of any water supplied by that undertaker and drawn through a hosepipe or similar apparatus.

(2) A water undertaker imposing a prohibition or restriction under this Article shall, before it comes into force, give public notice of it, and of the date on which it will come into force, in two or more newspapers circulating in the locality affected by the prohibition or restriction.

(3) Any person who, at a time when a prohibition or restriction under this Article is in force, contravenes its provisions shall be guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(4) Where a prohibition or restriction is imposed by a water undertaker under this Article, charges made by the undertaker for the use of a hosepipe or similar apparatus shall be subject to a reasonable reduction and, in the case of a charge paid in advance, the undertaker shall make any necessary repayment or adjustment.

(5) In this Article “private motor car” means any mechanically propelled vehicle intended or adapted for use on roads other than—

(a) a public service vehicle, within the meaning of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (NI 1) ; or

(b) a goods vehicle within the meaning of that Order,

and includes any vehicle drawn by a private motor car.