Water supplies in Oxfordshire are holding their own, despite the county receiving only 15 per cent of average rainfall in June.

Last month, the county saw only 8mm (in) of rain, a setback after a wet May, when rainfall was 175 per cent of the average for the month.

Thames Water spokesman Chris Shipway said: "The bottom line is that the past two months have cancelled each other out.

"Demand has fallen by up to three per cent as a result of hosepipe bans and our Waterwise campaign.

"At the moment, there are no plans to apply for an emergency drought order in Oxfordshire."

The union which represents water workers has condemned regulator Ofwat for the action it took against Thames Water for failing to meet leakage targets. Ofwat said on Tuesday it was forcing the firm to spend an extra £150m on mains repairs instead of imposing a fine of up to £66m.

GMB national officer Gary Smith said: "The GMB has been clear for some time that the regulator is not up to the job of ensuring customers get supplies of water. We want to see a publicly-owned and controlled water industry."