Hosepipe ban will start at Easter
THAMES Water is one of seven companies in south England which has today (Monday) said it is going to impose a hosepipe ban next month.
Britain’s biggest water supplier said its hosepipe ban will come into effect from April 5, before the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, and will apply to all of its 8.8m water customers across Thames Valley and London.
Today’s decision by Thames Water comes after one of the driest two-year periods in the region since records began in 1884. Only in 1892-3 and 1920-1 has the region seen less rainfall.
It was announced last month that West Berkshire was officially in a drought, with Thames Water saying a hosepipe ban was inevitable.
Chief executive of the water firm, Martin Baggs, said many tributaries of the River Thames are running desperately low.
The River Pang is running at a third of its long-term average flow where it joins the Thames at Pangbourne.
It has dried up completely from upstream of Bucklebury to its source seven miles north at Compton.
Mr Baggs added: “We have been doing as much as we can ourselves to save water, reducing leakage by a third since its peak in 2004 to its lowest-ever level, and hitting our leakage-reduction targets five years running.
“The additional step being announced today, which we are not taking lightly, comes after two consecutive dry winters. Groundwater levels in the aquifers, which we rely on for both borehole and river supplies, are well below where we would normally expect them to be. In some cases they are at their lowest levels ever recorded at this time of year.
“We know these restrictions will be unpopular, but they will save a lot of water. A garden sprinkler uses as much water in an hour as a family of four uses in a day, and when water is in short supply the needs of families must come first.
“We want to encourage everyone to continue to voluntarily save as much of this precious resource as possible, so there is enough to go around all our customers, however long it stays dry.”
For more on this story, read Thursday’s Newbury Weekly News.
