You don’t need me to tell you how hot it is out there, the plants (and weeds) are lapping up the sunshine, gardens are bursting into colour and everywhere is looking very green...at the moment. But with the current prolonged period of unusually hot weather this may soon change as the strain on our water supply is beginning to take its toll.
Rye News covered the problems with burst pipes recently (Wat-er disaster) when large areas of the county had no water but it seems that we are all using a lot more water in this excessive heat and our supplier, South East Water has started issuing warning messages, like the one below issued on Monday.
Good afternoon,
Due to temperatures soaring across our region in recent days and the prolonged dry weather we’ve experienced for the last six weeks we’re having to pump much more drinking water to customer taps than normal.
This, coupled with not seeing any significant rainfall since the end of April has put considerable pressure on our ability treat, pump and supply water to our all customers.
Demand has been rising over the last few weeks, but over the weekend we treated and pumped enough water to supply an additional four towns the size of Maidstone or Eastbourne.
This has impacted on the amount of treated water we have in our drinking water storage tanks across the regions.
We’re asking for our customers to commit to only using water that’s needed for essentials – things like drinking, cooking and hygiene. If we can all do that for the next few days, we will be able to refill the network much faster."
Gardens and the surrounding countryside are relishing in all this sunshine, lush and with new growth but it seems that we could be moving closer to scenes of last year's drought conditions if we don't start conserving and prioritising our use of water. At the moment, keeping plants watered is not a current priority and a much needed downfall would refill our empty water barrels.
According to South East Water's website there are water supply issues in Wadhurst, Mayfield, Tunbridge Wells, Biddenden and Staplehurst. No doubt at some point the heavens will open again but until then, watering the gardens may have to wait.
Live update 16 June.
For those whose water is supplied by South East Water, they have just made the following announcement.
A hosepipe and sprinkler ban is being imposed on people in Kent and Sussex.
South East Water said it had no choice after demand for drinking water had reached "record levels" in June, similar to last year's drought.Some households in Kent and Sussex have been without water since Monday due to supply issues.
It will impose the ban on hosepipes from 26 June, the measures mean that using hosepipes and sprinklers to water gardens, clean cars and fill swimming pools will not be allowed, and rule-breakers could be hit with a £1,000 fine.
