![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/139\/590x\/1652384_1.jpg?r=1659987044597\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n
Around 3.5 million households have been hit with restrictions on watering their gardens and cleaning their cars after months of low rainfall<\/p>\n
MPs have called for water and sewage company bosses to banned from receiving bonuses – worth £27 million – while billions of litres of water is wasted in leaks every day.<\/p>\n
Ms Truss said she believes the firms turn to hosepipe bans as a first option rather than a last resort.<\/p>\n
She said: “My view is that we should be tougher on the water companies and that there hasn’t been enough action to deal with these leaky pipes which have been there for years. <\/p>\n
“I have a lot of issues with my water company in Norfolk, which is a particularly dry area of the country, and those companies need to be held to account.”<\/p>\n
She said hosepipe bans “should be a last resort”.<\/p>\n
“What I’m worried about is it seems to be a first resort rather than the water companies dealing with the leaks,” she added.<\/p>\n