Water tankers banned from Blackstone CEO’s country estate


GILL PLIMMER · 13 Sept 2025


Southern Water has banned tankers from delivering water to fill a lake and support renovation at the English country estate of Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman, saying it is not in the “spirit” of efforts to conserve water.

The US billionaire, who heads one of the world’s largest private equity firms, had been legally using water tankers to fill a new lake on his 2,500-acre estate in Wiltshire, despite a hosepipe ban imposed by Southern Water during the recent hot and dry summer. Water was also needed to support renovation efforts at the 350-year-old listed manor, which required as many as 800 workers and the planting of new trees.

Tim McMahon, Southern Water’s managing director for water, said yesterday that he was “appalled by this use of water”.

“It may not fall within hosepipe ban restrictions, but it’s certainly not in the spirit of the incredible and ongoing community effort to save water across the county,” he said.

Schwarzman, a supporter of US President Donald Trump, bought the property on the border between Wiltshire and Hampshire in 2022. The estate used a water collection system as the primary means of filling the lake, according to people familiar with the project.

Southern Water, which provides services to 4.7mn customers in the south of England, hires out approved standpipes to a third party, which then permits licensed tanker companies to use them for a range of uses such as highways work and construction.

However, Southern Water has had a hosepipe ban in place throughout the summer and has been so concerned about water shortages that it has considered importing water from the Norwegian fjords. It imposed a ban on tankers serving Schwarzman’s estate on Thursday in a move first reported by the BBC.

A spokesperson for Schwarzman said he was committed to restoring the estate “with the highest regard to local laws and planning regulations”. They said that water had been brought in to “support the building works and associated personnel” and that a “proportion of transported water has been used in connection with irrigation and the lake”.

“Following yesterday’s request from Southern Water that water is not directed to the lake, the estate has readjusted the supply of water accordingly,” the spokesperson said.

There is no suggestion that the commercial tankers servicing the estate were breaking the law, or that Schwarzman violated local water regulations.

Southern Water, which is majority owned by the Australian infrastructure company Macquarie, is on regulator Ofwat’s watchlist of financially stressed companies, and has appealed to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to be able to increase bills over the next five years to help it fund upgrades.

McMahon said: “As soon as we were aware, we immediately investigated and banned tankers from abstracting from these standpipes. We’re also having robust conversations with those using this water and the companies working on their behalf.

“While this disappointing occurrence is highly unusual and rare, I would like to reassure customers that I am leading a thorough review into how this happened, and how we can tighten up both our internal monitoring processes and any legal loopholes so that this cannot happen again.”



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