Water company asks people not to use hoses as heatwave continues

WATER company Severn Trent has called on people to use water sparingly to avoid a summer heatwave shortage.

It tweeted this morning, Monday: "Demand is still high, so we're asking everyone to help by turning off garden sprinklers, taking shorter showers and not using hoses."

The mercury reached a new peak in Stratford-upon-Avon on Sunday at 29.8 degrees and there seems to be no end in sight to the hot and dry spell.

Water efficiency manager, Doug Clarke, added: “Demand for water is massively up thanks to several weeks of extremely hot weather.

"While we have lots of water available and our reservoir levels are healthy and we’re putting millions of extra litres of water into the system, people are using water as fast as we can treat and pump it into supply. "

He added: "This is particularly the case during peak demand in the morning and evenings when we want to ask customers to restrict their supply so we can avoid areas of low pressure.

"We know how tempting it is to fill the paddling pool up, or get the sprinkler going, but to put things into perspective, a sprinkler can use as much as 1,000 litres of drinking water in just one hour.

“We urge everyone to play their part and be extra careful with their water, especially during peak times.”