South West Water confident no hose pipe ban required

»»THERE will be no need for hosepipe bans in the Westcountry this year even given prolonged periods of hot and dry weather, South West Water claims.

The company says it is confident supplies will be sufficient to meet Devon and Cornwall’s needs during 2024.

In 2022 a hosepipe ban was put in place in Cornwall and parts of North Devon after the biggest drought in the region for more than 130 years.

SWW says that since then a combination of record investment, periods of heavy rainfall and customers doing more to save water has seen a boost in reservoir levels across the South West.

The firm has announced that its two biggest strategic reservoirs, at Colliford in Cornwall and Roadford in Devon, have both recharged to more than 90% of their storage capacity.

Colliford is now 98.5% full, compared to 60% last year, and Roadford is at 100% whereas at this time last year it was 68%.

To help maintain strong water resilience for now and the future, the company says, it is investing more than £125 million to increase resources in Cornwall by 45% and in Devon by 30%.

David Harris, SWW’s drought and resilience director, said: “While it may seem obvious that recent heavy rainfall has led to increased reservoir levels across the region, over one-third of the additional storage has come from our own supply interventions and customers reducing their usage.

“As a direct result of our investments, interventions, the weather and our customers reducing their use of water, we are confident that we are in a strong position to navigate whatever weather we face this year without the need for water restrictions.

“This does not mean we will stop our efforts there”, he said.

“We will continue to invest and deliver clean water supplies across our region and prepare as much as we can for climate change and unpredictable weather patterns.”