Households in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells are being urged to use water ‘sparingly’ in the hot weather and ‘refrain from washing cars or filling paddling pools’.
The plea comes from Southern Water, which covers Kent and East Sussex.
However, the company has stopped short of introducing hosepipe bans similar to those being imposed in other parts of the country.
In the North West of England thousands of families are facing hosepipe bans as forecasters predict hot, dry weather for the rest of July.
A Southern Water spokesperson said yesterday [Tuesday]: ‘We have no plans to introduce similar measures as we have good stocks of water resources in our reservoirs and more importantly in the deep underground natural stores of water called aquifers.
‘But when warm weather hits, demand for water soars by as much as 70 per cent compared to cooler times and as the heat wave continues it is placing a high demand on water supplies.’
The company is currently supplying 100 million more litres of water a day across the region compared with an average day in 2017 – that’s nearly eleven million watering cans full.
The spokesman added: ‘We are calling on customers to use water sparingly in the garden, refrain from washing cars or filling paddling pools to ensure we have sufficient supplies in our network.’
One of the biggest sources of supply in the region is Bewl Water where levels currently stand at 96 per cent capacity. In order for a drought to be called that figure would have to drop to 26 per cent.
If that happened Southern Water would talk to the Environment Agency about putting a temporary hosepipe ban in place in particular regions. However, the company has said it is ‘no where near that yet.’
