Dry weather pushes water demand up 20% in South East

South East Water had to increase its supply by 20% one day this week as demand soared during the ongoing hot weather.

That equates to an additional 114 megalitres, with South East supplying a total of 654 megalitres of tap water on Wednesday (14 June).

Demand remains high across the Kent and Sussex regions, with pressure low and supplies disrupted in some areas. The company said up to 2,500 customers are affected. Customers in Crowborough, Wadhurst, Tunbridge Wells have experienced low or no supply this week.

Consequently, the company has issued a plea to customers urging them to use resources wisely.

“Yesterday we produced 654 megalitres of tap water, when the usual figure is 540,” Steve Andrews, incident manager at South East said.

“All our water treatment works and water sources available to us are being used, but with the demand still so high, our treated water storage reservoirs are not refilling enough to keep all our customers in supply.”

Emergency response teams have been distributing bottled water, arranging alternate supplies for schools and the customer care team is delivering supplies to customers on the priority services register.

“We are doing everything we can, including moving water around our network,” Andrews added and said customers are being asked not to use water for non-essential purposes. “Please don’t use hosepipes and sprinklers as this drains the system very quickly.”

The national picture

Elsewhere in the country, low rainfall since April has brought challenges, but heavy rain over the winter largely replenished supplies since the drought in 2022. At this stage, companies are not anticipating putting usage restrictions in place.

Last summer was the first in a decade that hosepipe bans were enforced at six companies as drought was declared by the Environment Agency across much of the country.

In the west of England, a hosepipe ban has been in place in Cornwall and parts of Devon since last summer. South West Water said despite interventions, the region’s resources are under pressure. Colliford Reservoir, which dropped to around 15% last year, is currently around only 3% higher than this time last year, while Roadford Reservoir is 16% lower than this time in 2022. The company has brought additional storage into the network with repurposed quarries being turned into reservoirs to boost supplies by 45% this year.

Water director at Southern Tim McMahon said the company had no immediate plans for restrictions, but cautioned it was too early to predict how river levels will be impacted over the summer.

He added: “The significant rainfall we had in September through to January and then again in March helped recharge our groundwater sources and reservoirs to a much stronger position than this time last year.”

Last year a hosepipe ban was ordered to protect chalk streams Test and Itchen, which the company continues to closely monitor.

In the Portsmouth region, groundwater levels are a healthy 4.7 meters above average for the time of year. However the company said its approach to water efficiency is “always on” to reflect the water stressed nature of the region as a whole. Consistent messaging during spring and summer is accelerated during dry warm periods.

Across London and the Thames Valley, seven of the last nine months received higher than average rainfall. Thames Water said its reservoir levels are above average for this time of year with London at 97%, Farmoor at 98%. The company said groundwater levels are mostly normal for the time of year.

However it said it was “still taking a cautious approach” in case 2023 is a repeat of the hot dry weather last summer.

Anglian Water said its investment in smart metering meant customers used “significantly less” water last year than the year before, despite the heat. The company did not impose a hosepipe ban in 2022 and is not forecasting any restrictions to be needed this year, despite Norfolk still being classed as in drought.

The company said it is monitoring groundwater sources, which take longer to recover from prolonged dry periods and will implement temporary restrictions without hesitation. The company plans to reduce abstractions by 84 megalitres per day by 2025 as well as bringing novel resources online.

The second half of May was dry in the Wessex Water region, but overall rainfall was only slightly lower than average for the month. Between December and May 120% of the long-term average fell, which left the company’s reservoir and groundwater levels in a healthy position. The company said it did not envisage needing to enforce restrictions, but is actively encouraging customers to use water responsibly.

Severn Trent said it has not put a hosepipe ban in place in its region since 1995 and said “there was no reason to believe that we will need one in 2023”. It has been proactively contacting customers for several weeks, specifically highest consumption across domestic, non-household and NAV connections. The company said work undertaken over the winter to move supplies around its network, together with efficiency efforts by consumers left reservoirs at 85% capacity going into summer.

The northeast of England officially remains in a period of prolonged dry weather, one rating below drought. Northumbrian Water said autumn-winter rainfall levels helped to restore reservoir levels. The company said the region was in a healthy position and did not anticipate restrictions being needed.

“As an environmentally-responsible company, we are preparing for the potential of another hot dry summer and so we are managing the resources we take from the environment,” a spokesperson said. “To help with this, we are encouraging our customers to use water wisely and minimise usage where they can.”