Farmers in desperate need of rain
We may be fed up with rain at the moment but 12 years ago, farmers and growers were absolutely desperate for drops to fall from the sky.
For the third time in 16 years, people in the Midhurst and Petworth area were faced with water restrictions after a state of drought was declared across the south east.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced a state of drought in the south east of England following the direst ten months on record since 1888.
Southern Water, which supplies households across the Rother Valley, and South East Water, which supplies the Fernhurst area, restricted the use of hosepipes and sprinklers from April 2012.
Farmers and growers in the area were pinning their hopes on heavy rain in a bid to avert a water crisis.
The situation in West Sussex, however, was not as bad as farmers were experiencing in other parts of the country, where the water shortage meant those in the East Anglia area were being prevented from extracting water from rivers – something they were entitled to do under licences from the Environment Agency.
Water for the Rother Valley was taken from the River Rother, from underground aquifers and a pipeline under the Downs from Portsmouth, and farmers were keeping an eye on water levels.
Meanwhile, homeowners were stocking up on water butts, to preserve as much water as possible if the rain did fall.
At their Elmleigh home in Midhurst, award-winning amateur gardeners Wendy and Ted Liddle were a step ahead, as four years previously, they had a 1,000 litre reservoir installed underground in their garden, taking recycled water from their shower.
The restrictions on water use were the first since 2005 to 2006, when customers in the Midhurst and Petworth area suffered hosepipe and sprinkler bans for 19 months.
Chichester were urged to show 'voluntary restraint'. Unlike Southern Water, Chichester supplier Portsmouth Water had not introduced a hosepipe ban.
By the end of March 2012, the temperature was up to a sizzling 19 degrees and people were heading to the beaches and the parks.