United Utilities has announced that it will impose a hosepipe ban which will come into force on Friday July 9 at 6am. The ban is the first hosepipe ban in the North West for 14 years and follows the driest start to a year since its records began.
The ban applies to all United Utilities’ customers in the North West, with the exception of customers in Carlisle, Allerdale, Copeland and the north Eden Valley, where supplies are at reasonable levels.
The areas are exempt because they are on discrete supply network zones fed by local water sources which have not been so badly affected by lack of rainfall or, in the case of west Cumbria, have been replenished by recent heavy rains. Water stock levels in the zones are considered adequate. The zones are not connected to Thirlmere or Haweswater reservoirs or the integrated network which serves the rest of the region.
John Sanders, United Utilities Water Regulation and Strategy Manager, said:
"Despite some recent rainfall in the north of the region, reservoir levels are still significantly lower than we would expect at this time of year and are now at a point where we need to impose some temporary restrictions on our customers.
"It is not a decision we have taken lightly, but a hosepipe can use as much water in an hour as a family of four would use in one day. This ban will help us to safeguard essential water supplies to our customers if the drought continues. "
The ban will restrict the use of hosepipes or sprinklers for watering private gardens and washing private cars. The move is the latest in a series of actions taken by the company to maintain essential supplies, including maximising water abstraction from ground water supplies and moving water around its regional integrated network of pipes.
United Utilities applying for further drought permits
The recent rainfall in west Cumbria has eased the situation for customers who get their supply from Ennerdale Water. United Utilities is seeking to place an application for a drought permit at Ennerdale on hold because the amount of available water has increased sufficiently. However the situation is not mirrored in other areas where reservoir levels remain low and the company is applying for further drought permits for other sources in the region at Rivington, Windermere and Longdendale.
Rivington and Longdendale are both networks of Pennine reservoirs and Windermere is in South Cumbria. The drought permit application will seek permission from the Environment Agency to allow United Utilities to release less water from the Rivington and Longdendale reservoirs back into rivers, and to take additional water out of Windermere.
John Sanders added:
"We need to be very mindful that we share our water supply with the environment and we all need to do our bit to protect supplies for the benefit not just of our own communities but also our river wildlife,".
"We will need much more significant rainfall before the position starts to turn around."
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