Severn Trent is reporting that its reservoir levels are in excellent shape - its latest update says that levels are now back up to over 95% capacity with many at 100% and actually topping over.

The water company attributed the increase to the following factors, despite only seeing 17% of the rainfall it would normally expect in February:

• hard work of operational teams over the winter months
• millions of pounds invested in moving water around the network
• the outstanding response from customers in thinking about their water usage through last year’s exceedingly hot and dry summer

Severn Trent is also reporting that it will once again hit its leakage reduction target for the fifth consecutive year, making this 11 of the last 12 years in total.

The utility said this is keeping the company “well on track” to halve the amount of water lost through its network by 2045.

The percentage of water lost through Severn Trent’s pipes is now down below European average levels at 16%. However, in contrast , the amount lost through customer owned pipes is now “unfortunately increasing” and is now at 7%. Severn Trent is therefore accelerating its meter rollout to support customers in identifying issues early and helping to protect their homes, gardens and driveways.

The water company is nevertheless warning:

“While our water stocks are in a very good position – despite the hot summer and freeze-thaw events over the winter – it is exceedingly important that we all continue to think about the ways that we use water.

“We haven’t had to put a hosepipe ban in place in our region for nearly 30 years - since 1995 - and if we all continue to work together, there’s no reason to believe that we will need one in 2023, but we will be counting on our customers to use water wisely should we face another dry summer, in exactly the same manner as we did last year. “