Sponsored by
Anglian Water lifts hosepipe ban
THE controversial hosepipe ban affecting Anglian Water customers will be lifted tomnorrow (Thursday).
Record rainfall since the start of April has boosted flows in many rivers and largely refilled reservoirs hit hard by a two-year-long drought.
Many groundwater sources have also recovered from what had been record low levels in some areas.
Nevertheless, some aquifers remain low and are now likely to remain so until they can be recharged by sustained rainfall in winter.
Groundwater aquifers account for almost half of the water that Anglian Water supplies.
For this reason, customers are being urged to continue to use water wisely whatever the weather.
Paul Valleley, Anglian Water’s Director of Water Services, said: “I am delighted that we are able to make this announcement. It was never our intention to keep these restrictions in place a moment longer than necessary.
“When we introduced the ban back on April 5, we had just been through the driest year on record and gone two winters without the rainfall needed to recharge reservoirs and aquifers.
“Almost from the moment we announced the ban, it started raining and April turned out to be the wettest in our 113-year records.
“There’s no way we could have predicted it, but in some places we had three times the average rainfall in April.
“Effectively, we had three months worth of ‘winter rain’ in April. This was followed by a wet and cool May and June. The persistent rain and low temperatures have extended the recharge season into the early summer, and this has made all the difference.”
While Anglian Water is confident supplies are now secure this summer without the need for restrictions, concern remains over levels in many of the region’s underground aquifers.
As a result, Anglian Water is continuing to ask its customers to use water wisely whatever the weather, reducing usage where possible to conserve supplies through the summer.
At the same time, the company will continue to do its bit – driving down leakage and investing in drought-busting schemes to tap new sources of water and improve the storage and movement of water around its network.
Mr Vallelly said: “We are enormously grateful to our customers for their help and support over the last two months.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Horncastle
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North
