We all rely on water every single day. From making our morning cup of tea to flushing the toilet, it's essential. But what happens when everyone turns on their taps, showers, or dishwashers at the same time? It puts a real strain on our water supply network.
That's why it's so important for all of us to make a few simple changes at home to save water. By doing so, we can make sure there's enough water for everyone and that more water stays in the environment.
Understanding water demand
The amount of water our customers use each day changes with the seasons. We normally supply around 544 million litres of water a day. In the summer months, this can go up to over 600 million litres a day.
This year, we've experienced the driest start to spring in 64 years, which means more water is being outdoors than normal. Whether it’s to keep gardens blooming, staying cool in a paddling pool, or cleaning patios and cars. The result is a rapid increase through our water demand alert levels. We need to work together to prevent further actions and make sure there’s enough water for everyone this summer.
Water alert levels and what they mean
To help everyone understand, we've introduced a handy colour-coded alert system:
- Green: Life's normal! Our daily water demand is below 600 million litres. Everything’s flowing smoothly, but we’d really appreciate you being mindful of your water use.
- Yellow: Things are getting a bit busier! Demand is between 600 and 625 million litres. Time to be a little more mindful than usual.
- Amber: Uh oh! Demand is climbing between 625 and 650 million litres. We need you to keep water use to a minimum to keep the taps flowing for everyone.
- Red: Yikes! Demand is over 650 million litres a day. It's crucial we all take action to conserve water, using it for essentials only, like cooking, washing and staying hydrated
How will you know?
We're using a traffic light system! When we share water-saving tips, the image will reflect the current alert level. Spot a yellow, orange, or red box? That's your signal to kick those water-saving habits into high gear!
Our efforts and limitations
We're working around the clock to treat and supply water, but there are limits. Treated water can't be stored indefinitely, and there's only so much we can take from its natural source, treat and then pump to homes each day. If we all use more than we can produce, some areas might experience temporary supply issues. This is why we encourage you to reuse water where you can. It really makes a difference.
We’re also doing our bit to tackle leaks. Over the last three years we have increased the number of leaks we fix by 12 per cent on average. However, we do share your frustrations in seeing drinking water lost to leaks, so we’ve implemented a leakage recovery strategy. This includes increasing the number of staff out finding and fixing leaks, spending £40 million a year and investing in new leak detection technology. For example we use satellite surveys and drones to pinpoint leaks and specialised noise equipment to confirm the location of a leak between two points.
How can you help?
We're working hard to ensure there's enough water for everyone, but we need your help. By making a few simple changes at home, you can make a big difference.
When the daily demand for water is really high, it’s important that we all work together and save water where we can.
Making simple changes now, means we can all enjoy more this summer:
Here's how you can be a water-saving hero:
- Swap the hose for a watering can, it can save as much as 100 bottles of pop!
- Keep showers short and sweet - less than 4 minutes if you can.
- Use a bowl to wash fruit and veg, the water can then be reused in the garden after.
- Reuse as much as possible, from the water we cook with to tumble dryers and humidifiers, it can all be reused to water the garden that day.
- Cover your paddling pool and when finished reuse the paddling pool water for your plants.
- Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or cleaning.
- Cover soil with bark or mulch to lock in moisture.
- Be mindful of your water use, especially during peak times on hot days.
You can find more tips on how to save water, here! (opens in a new tab)
Stay informed
As water demand changes daily, we're actively updating our Water Latest webpage(opens in a new tab), to keep you informed about our water levels and any important updates going on in your area.
Let's work together to keep the taps flowing for everyone, to really make the most of it this summer!
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