No hosepipe ban despite ‘driest’ period
Friday 2nd July 2010, 11:10AM BST.
Shropshire will not be hit by a hosepipe ban despite reservoir levels falling during the driest period in the UK for 80 years, a water giant said today.
But residents are being encouraged by Severn Trent to use water “wisely”.
The firm said it did not have any major concerns about supplies.
Although, it said, the dry weather has had an impact with reservoirs in the region, which are about 10 per cent lower than they would normally expect them to be at this time of year.
Gill Dickinson, media relations manager, said: “We have around 414,000 customers in Shropshire, around 30 per cent of their water supplies come from a water treatment works which is fed by the River Severn. The remainder comes from aquifers – underground sources.
“We are fortunate that the aquifers are less affected by the hot weather than reservoirs, however, we would always encourage our customers to use water wisely.”
She added they were not considering a hosepipe ban.
The first six months of 2010 have been the driest across the UK since 1929 and it was announced this week average rainfall for January to June was 356.8mm, the lowest reading since 1929 when 275.7mm was recorded.
Andrew Gledhill, store manager at Percy Throwers Garden Centre in Oteley Road, Shrewsbury, said: “Our sales of watering products doubled last week.”
Oliver Cartwright, spokesman for the National Farmer’s Union in Shropshire, said the dry spell had left the ground hard on many farms.
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