Southern Water has announced that its reservoirs are in a healthy position at the start of 2011.

Figures show more than 230mm of rainfall has fallen in the South East since October, which is only slightly below the long term average of 258mm. This has helped refill Southern Water’s four surface water reservoirs. The current levels are:

• Weir Wood reservoir near East Grinstead, East Sussex, is 100 per cent full (above the long term average 84 per cent)

• Darwell reservoir near Robertsbridge, East Sussex, is 100 per cent full (long term average 78 per cent)

• Powdermill, near Sedlescombe, East Sussex, is 95 per cent full (long term average 86 per cent)

• Bewl Water reservoir at Lamberhurst, Kent, is 78 per cent full (long term average 80 per cent).

Water Strategy Manager Meyrick Gough said:

“We are well into our recharge season, when we refill our stocks, and, from a resource perspective, we are in a better-than-average position.

“We rely on winter rainfall to fill both our reservoirs and, most importantly, our groundwater storage. However, we must still be mindful of the water we are using and we ask customers to continue to be water efficient.”

Southern Water supplies water to two million customers in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Nearly 70 per cent comes from groundwater, predominantly from the chalk aquifer which is widespread across the region. A further 28 per cent comes from rivers and the remaining two per cent from surface water reservoirs. The recharge season - when water supplies start to recover following the summer months - runs from October until March.

Reservoir levels data are updated weekly and can be viewed at www.southernwater.co.uk/waterresources.