A hosepipe ban will begin at midnight today (Friday).

Manx Utilities (MU) is introducing the temporary ban on jet-washing driveways, watering gardens or filling a paddling pool with a hosepipe and washing cars. The fine for breaching this is up to £2,000.

MU is urging people to use water wisely and classifies washing hands and drinking water as a priority.

This follows the Met Office confirming that this year’s springtime was the driest since 1984. The spring months saw 78.7mm of rainfall compared to the long-term average of 172mm.

These conditions have caused reservoir levels to become ’unusually low’, it said, as well as an increased demand in water use.

Using data collected from reservoir levels and weather predictions from the Met Office, the authority made the decision on the restriction to ’preserve our essential drinking water supplies through the summer and beyond’.

MU is looking at further solutions and is boosting West Baldwin reservoir with pumped supplies from Sulby reservoir moving 14 million litres of water per day.

A spokesman said: ’This is keeping it artificially high. We have never done this before so soon in the season and not before the beginning of July in recent history.

’If we were not transferring this water then Baldwin reservoir would only be at about 25% by now. It has not been below 60% at this time of year in recent history.’

MU chairman Tim Baker MHK said the decision on the ban was agreed last week, adding that he ’doubt[s] this has come as a surprise to many people’ given the dry weather.

He thanked the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture for temporarily reducing the volume of compensation water that is distributed to the island’s rivers from reservoirs.

’This temporary use ban supplements that reduction and together these actions will help preserve our water supplies,’ he said. ’We expect rainfall to continue below usual levels in the coming weeks and it is essential to safeguard the raw water stocks at our reservoirs.

’We know that our island can respond extremely well when challenged and I am sure the Manx people will understand the need for this action and respond accordingly.’

The island last faced a hosepipe ban in August 2018, which was brought on by a drought. The restriction on the use of water falls under Schedule 5, paragraph 20.(1) of The Water Act 1991