Make one change to your everyday water habits to help us save water during the summer.

 Image description: Person putting a toothbrush under a running tap

Following the driest spring on record for over a century and with temperatures pushing above 30C in our region, we are expecting demand for water to increase even more over the weekend, with levels predicted to be close to the maximum amount of water we are able to take from the environment.

During this recent hot weather spell, we are seeing customers use, on average, 30% more water every day, and this means we’re having to take significantly more water from the environment to meet all of our customers' needs.

With rainfall well below average levels and higher than average temperatures over the last few months, this is putting pressure on the environment, and additional abstraction increases this pressure further.

What are doing to combat this

We are doing everything we can to keep all our customers supplied with high-quality drinking water whilst also protecting the environment.

We have detailed plans in place to manage our water resources and have introduced more leakage teams to help find and fix leaks quicker to reduce wastage.

Long term, we are investing in new pipes in our network, which will help further reduce the number of leaks we experience.

We are also appealing to our customers to take small water-saving steps to make sure that there is enough water for everyone and our environment during this hot weather and throughout the rest of summer.

Easy ways for us all to save water

Here are some easy tips you can follow:

• Avoid using hosepipes where possible - this isn’t a ban, but hosepipes use up to 1,000 litres an hour, which is the same as a family of four uses in two days
• Water plants early in the morning or the evening - this limits the amount of water that is evaporated
• Leave established lawns even if they go brown - they will recover when it next rains
• If your car needs a wash, use a bucket instead of a hose - this would save over 100 litres of water
• Switch from a bath to a shower -this would halve your water usage
• If you like a long shower, see if you can reduce your shower time - just two minutes can save 30 litres of water

Last year, we launched our Yes We Cam campaign and asked customers to take a pledge to reduce the amount of water they use to help us keep more water in our chalk streams. These small steps can add up to make a significant difference to the amount of water used on a daily basis.

Why is it important we save water?

Our water is sourced from boreholes sunk into the chalk aquifer. This is the same source that feeds our region’s chalk streams – a beautiful part of our natural landscape.

An average of 86 million litres of water a day is abstracted from water resources, and up to 107 million litres on a really hot day.

Our county is one of the fastest-growing regions, with industries such as biotechnology and research and development booming, and housing development increasing, but it is also one of the driest.

With less rain, hotter weather, a growing population and rising modern water usage, our local groundwater sources are under pressure like never before.

Natalie Akroyd, Director of Quality and Environment, commented: "We’re all enjoying the glorious weather at the moment, and whilst we had rain over the autumn and winter, we had our driest spring for over 100 years, with average rainfall in our region well below normal levels, and this means we have to abstract more from the environment.

"Whilst we’ve increased the number of leakage teams we have to be able to find and fix leaks quicker, we’re asking customers to look at opportunities for them to save water, particularly during these hot spells.

"If we all take steps to use water wisely now, we can ensure we have enough water available for all of our customers and the environment.”

Water resources and demand for the end of May

Image description: Graphic showing rainfall levels for the last three months, customer water use, river flow and groundwater levels. Percentage of long term rainfall - 15% in March, 43% in April and 45% in May. Customer water use is above average, river flow is below average, and groundwater levels are below average.

Water saving tips

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