Have fun in the sun, but we be wise with water

With the temperature continuing to rise before storms arrive Wednesday evening, South East Water is reminding customers to use water wisely after it experienced its highest demand for tap water of the year so far.

On Sunday 13 June the water company extracted, treated and pumped 666 million litres of water to its 2.2 million customers – 100 million litres more than in an average June.

While there is enough water in its reservoirs and underground aquifers, the company is working hard behind-the-scenes to push extra water through the treatment process so when taps are turned on, water is instantly there.

Douglas Whitfield, South East Water’s Operations Director, said: “When the temperature increases people use more water, it’s something we expect and plan for, however as we’re still not commuting or travelling as normal, coupled with the recent hot weather, demand in our supply area is higher than we normally see in June.

“If a lot of people make a few simple changes it can add up to a big difference, an easy one is to cover paddling pools when not in use then re-using paddling pool water when emptying and not watering lawns as rain is on the way.

Since last summer, which saw customers in Mid Sussex go without water due to exceptionally high demands for water, the company has been putting new processes and supply improvements in place.

These include adapting its customer and communications strategies, updating internal procedures, laying new pipelines to bring additional water into the area and accelerating the return of key water treatment sites which were being upgraded.

Douglas continued: “We have worked hard during the past year to make a number of changes which mean we are better prepared if we experience the same challenges and issues in Mid Sussex again.

“While we can never say never and we’re doing all we can, the simple fact remains that if everyone turns on their taps and hoses at the same time our network has to work very hard to keep up. So everything you can do to save water really helps.

“We’ve got rain forecast for later this week so we’d encourage all our responsible gardeners to put their feet up and enjoy the warm weather for a few days in the knowledge that nature will do the hard work in a few days.”