August 3, 2022 4.02 pm This story is over 34 months old

Anglian Water urges caution as hosepipe bans introduced in south

Businesses may be given limits

Anglian Water has urged people not to waste water as the region faces a three month rainfall deficit.

Other counties have announced a ban due to the exceptionally dry weather, but those measures aren’t expected to be necessary in Lincolnshire.

The water company is carefully monitoring river levels in case they fall further.

The start of 2022 has been the driest eight months on record since 1976, and with the east of England officially being designated in ‘prolonged dry weather’ by the Environment Agency.

Anglian Water says that the region’s rainfall is two to three months behind where it is expected to be.

However, its reservoir levels are currently stable, and hosepipe bans aren’t planned this year.

The company also revealed that the 40C heatwave last month saw it supplying an extra half a billion litres of water per day – its highest amount ever.

Lincolnshire sizzled in a record-breaking heatwave in July

A spokesperson for the company said: “Despite a very dry year so far, our reservoir levels are stable, at around 80% full, and our groundwater sources are in reasonable shape too, so we’re not currently planning on any hosepipe bans this year.

“But we are watching river levels very closely at the moment to see how they respond if it stays dry.

“We operate in the driest region in the country, so conserving and managing our water resources and protecting against drought is what we do every day.

“Although one dry winter doesn’t give us cause for concern now, we also need to make sure we conserve enough water for tomorrow, next month and next summer too.  It’s such a precious commodity that often gets take for granted. This is why we always encourage customers to use water wisely, whatever the weather.

People have been urged not to waste water

“On a normal day, we supply roughly 1.1 billion litres of top-quality drinking water to our 4.3 million customers across the East of England, but when temperatures peaked at over 40 degrees a few weeks ago, we exceeded a record breaking 1.6 billion litres – more water than we’ve ever treated and sent to customers’ taps before.”

The hosepipe ban will be brought in across Kent and Sussex next week. Other regions say they may also be forced to look at the emergency measure in the future.

The Environment Agency recently warned restrictions could be placed on taking water from Lincolnshire’s River Wellanddue to low levels.

Businesses may be given limits on quantities or told to only take it at certain times.

The lack of rain is also said to be causing problems for wildlife and river users.