Millions of people in England are facing temporary hosepipe bans this summer, following the country’s driest start to the year since 1976.

Hosepipe bans – also known as Temporary Use Bans – are introduced by water companies during periods of high demand or low supply. Four companies have so far issued bans – Southern Water, Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and South East Water.

Anyone breaking the rules could be fined up to £1,000 – but how are the rules enforced?

Caroline Loup, a garden landscaper who lives in Overton, Hampshire, where Southern Water’s hosepipe ban has just begun, said people should be encouraged “to be nosy neighbours” to make sure the rules were being followed – but she wouldn’t report someone.

“This ban isn’t going to work unless everybody does their part,” she said.

“I’d probably go up to them and say, ‘Have you heard about the ban?’ I’d rather be up front than snoop on a neighbour.”

Ms Loup said action had to be taken by the water companies, including fining people who had broken the rules to deter others.

“There needs to be some teeth behind the action.”

On the Isle of Wight, also supplied by Southern Water, gardener Tim Parry said he had received calls from “very emotional” clients who were worried about their gardens and the “intimidating” prospect of a fine.

He said one client of his, a 90-year-old lady, asked him: “Do I have to walk a watering can up my garden? I don’t think I can do that.”

“They don’t want their neighbour looking out a window and thinking, ‘She’s out there with a hose’.”

He said he would be helping customers follow the rules because “our gardens aren’t as important as the environment”.

The BBC asked the four water companies whether they had ever issued fines for breaches.

Only Yorkshire Water directly answered this, saying it had never issued a single fine and would prefer not to do so, instead asking customers to “respect” the restrictions.

The company said it had received at least 100 reports of people who had continued to use hosepipes since the ban came into effect for more than five million households on 11 July.

“If we are told repeatedly about someone breaking the restrictions, the first thing we do is remind them of their obligations – that is usually enough,” a spokesperson said.

“However, if they continue to use a hosepipe, we may escalate our enforcement accordingly.”

The other three suppliers did not say if they had ever issued fines, but they all said enforcement would be the very final option.

Southern Water will first write to a customer who has been reported for using their hosepipe to remind them of the ban. The company said it might take enforcement action for “repeated or serious breaches”.

On its website, South East Water says prosecution is “very much a last resort” and “something no company wants to have to do”.

Police have told people not to contact them to report breaches of the ban, and instead to report them to their water company directly.

But Thames Water has said customers do not need to report breaches at all, adding that it “may get in touch with customers who repeatedly don’t follow the rules… just to make sure they’re aware of the restrictions and how to use water responsibly”.

Trade body Water UK said it was not aware of anyone having ever been fined for using a hosepipe, though it did not hold data.

But some people are exempt from the ban – those who are registered disabled, blue badge holders, and those who have paid a business to sow a lawn in the last 28 days.

Glyndwr Meredith is a blue badge holder who lives in Oxford, where Thames Water’s ban has now begun.

He has mobility issues that restrict him from using a watering can – which is allowed during the ban – rather than a hosepipe to water his garden.

He said the onus should not be on blue badge holders to make sure neighbours are aware they are allowed to continue using hosepipes if they decide to.

“I would not be uncomfortable using a hosepipe during a hosepipe ban,” he said, adding that it would depend on what the weather was like or whether someone was around to help.

Yorkshire Water said since the ban came into effect its customers’ water usage dropped by about 26m gallons (100m litres) in just two days – without issuing a single fine and despite more than 100 reports of people flouting the rules.

Dr Sianne Gordon-Wilson, who is currently looking into which factors can convince people to save water, said “peer influence” was the biggest driver.

“It’s all about the friends and the social network,” the assistant professor in marketing at Queen Mary University of London told the BBC.

“If they’re saying it’s something that you can do, it’s not too much work, or it can be quite easy… then that is the most influential factor.”

Nicci Russell, chief executive of water-conservation charity Waterwise, said more had to be done to make the public aware of water scarcity.

“We are running out of water right across the UK,” she said.

“There is nothing you can think of from the minute you wake up until the minute you go to bed that doesn’t need water.”

She added that while her organisation did not advise people to report their neighbours, hosepipe bans did encourage the public to think about how they could save water.

Additional reporting by Alys Davies and Michael Sheils McNamee