Heatwave sees ‘ferocious’ demand for water

Affinity Water has seen daily water demand in its supply areas jump by more than a quarter when compared to usual levels as a result of this week’s record-breaking heatwave.

Speaking to Utility Week on Tuesday (19 July) as the UK for the first time recorded temperatures of more 40 degrees Celsius, Affinity’s interim chief executive Stuart Ledger said his teams had been working hard to replenish supplies overnight to meet the “ferocious” demand, despite making advance preparations for the extreme weather.

He said the company would ordinarily supply 950 million litres of water per day at this time of year, but daily demand this week tipped over 1.2 billion litres.

Although there is sufficient water available, Ledger said the unprecedented demand had put a strain on networks: “We have plenty in the rivers and boreholes so this is not a drought. The problem is people trying to use it at the same time.” He said a “good dowse” of rain will be needed over the coming winter to restore water levels.

Ledger made the comments after company’s financial results showed it falling to meet its 2021/22 performance targets for domestic per capita consumption (PCC) and leakage.

Through a combination of metering, in-house and online efficiency checks, and the company’s Save Our Streams campaign, Affinity lowered PCC to 157 litres per day in 2021/22 – a year-on-year a reduction of 13.6 litres, or 4.1%, when compared to the previous year. However, this was still short of the company’s target of a 4.9% reduction to 155 litres in line with pre-Covid averages.

Ledger said this one of the “biggest gains” in the sector and he would be “very surprised” if any others hit their PCC targets this year as “people have changed the way they live and are at home a lot more. When the targets were set it was in a different world.”

Meanwhile, the company’s leakage rate fell by 10.5% – or 11.6 megalitres per day – when compared to 2020/21. Although short of the target decrease of 11.1%, Ledger said this was also a “massive reduction” and “probably one of the larger ones in the industry.” He said he is confident that Affinity will meet its targets for PCC and leakage over the rest of the current asset management period.

Elsewhere the organisation outperformed its goals on supply interruptions, gap sites and void properties. It also climbed both the C-Mex and D-Mex rankings for customer service and reported its best ever performance on water quality, scoring 0.87 on the Compliance Risk Index against a target of 2.0, where lower is preferable.

Ledger, who had been Affinity’s chief financial officer, was appointed interim chief executive in November when Pauline Welsh left the business. The recruitment process for a permanent chief executive is still ongoing.