Dwr Cymru Welsh Water has written to around 50,000 customers in parts of north and west Wales asking for their help in conserving water supplies during the current very dry summer.

The company says that while reservoir levels are generally high enough to avoid restrictions such as hosepipe bans this summer, it wants to work with customers to ensure that water is used wisely in coming months.

Letters have been sent to people in two areas where water use has been over a third higher than normal because of the warm weather. These are the Llyn Peninsular and mid and south Ceredigion.

Welsh Water managing director Nigel Annett said,

“We’ve had the driest spring and early summer for more than 80 years and we want to keep customers informed of the water supply situation. Although we consider that reservoir levels should be adequate for the rest of the summer, we want to ensure that they last for months to come and we are asking our customers for help.

“The areas in which we are writing to people are those where water resources may be most stretched if the hot weather continues and there isn’t enough rainfall to top up our reservoirs. People tend to use much more water during a heatwave and in recent times we have had to increase the water going into our network by as much as 50 per cent.

“We’ve done a lot of work on our water distribution network to strengthen the supply situation in all these areas and we’ve also been vigorously tackling leaks.”

The customer letters give localised information on reservoir levels and the action taken by Welsh Water to ensure continuity of supply. They also ask customers to help protect resources by avoiding water waste – such as limiting their water use in the garden by not using lawn sprinklers.