Severn Trent asks customers not to use sprinklers
Severn Trent is asking customers not to use sprinklers and hosepipes in the current hot weather.
The company says whilst water stocks are healthy for the time of year some customers are seeing lower pressure.
Last week a large area of Telford was without water for a number of hours, whilst others suffered low water pressure in the area.
Marcus O’Kane, water resources manager for Severn Trent said:
“The temptation in the hot weather is to get the hosepipe or sprinkler out and leave it running, but this approach can use as much as 1,000 litres of drinking water in just one hour.
“This weekend, in addition to what our customers would normally use, we supplied an extra 350 million litres of water - that’s enough to fill 175,000 children’s paddling pools.
“We have a huge network of pipes and storage reservoirs across our region that allows us to move water around to where it’s needed. These reservoirs need to refill during the night – that’s the way they’re designed so our customers have water available when they get up in the morning.
“Because some customers are leaving hosepipes or sprinklers running overnight, we are not seeing these reservoirs refill as much as we’d like, which means there’s less water available in the morning. Therefore some of our customers are seeing lower pressure than normal and there is more risk if we have a problem somewhere on our network. So please help your fellow customers by avoiding the use of sprinklers.”
“The more steps we can all take now – both as a company and as individuals – then the better placed our water supplies will be if the dry weather continues.”
