The UK’s South East Water Ltd. applied for permission to restrict non-essential water use by businesses in Sussex as drought conditions deepen in the region.

The utility, which supplies more than 2 million customers across southeast England, said Friday that it asked the government for a drought order that would allow it to introduce a ban on non-essential use, targeting commercial and other non-household customers. The measure would need approval from Environment Secretary Angela Eagle before it could take effect.

Southern Water also applied for similar restrictions in August, although a decision has yet to be made. Such measures typically affect businesses such as car washes and non-domestic swimming pools.

This year’s drought and intense heat drained rivers and reservoirs, disrupted water supplies and forced utilities to impose hosepipe bans on millions of people as part of measures to keep the taps on. The extreme weather, which also sparked wildfires and hurt crops, exposed a water system plagued by leaks and outages as demand rose and drier ground damaged aging pipes.

There’s about a one-in-four chance that around half of the nation will still be in drought next spring, the government said last month.

South East Water’s Ardingly Reservoir is just 22.8% full after months of exceptionally dry weather and high summer demand, it said in a statement. The utility is also tightening its existing hosepipe ban in Sussex by removing almost all exemptions, apart from those needed for health and safety.

South East Water was also separately granted permission last week from the Environment Agency to temporarily reduce the amount of additional water released from Ardingly into the River Ouse and reduce the minimum flow that must remain in the river after water has been taken from it for customers.