Southern Water issues plea after demand soars during heatwave

Increased demand

As the scorching hot weather continues a number of tourists are continuing to flock to Thanet’s beaches to relax by the sea.

At home residents  are also making the most of the sunshine filling paddling pools and watering gardens as the isle recorded a high of 30 degrees yesterday.

Now, Southern Water has issued an appeal for people to only use water for essentials as demand continues to soar.

A spokesman said: “We’re seeing an unprecedented demand on water supplies from homes in Kent, including Thanet, Ramsgate, the Isle of Sheppey, Gillingham , Chatham and Gravesend.

“This is due to the lockdown with more people being at home and the country experiencing some of the hottest days of the year.We appreciate that with the hot weather and sunshine people want to enjoy their gardens, paddling pools, hot tubs, water fights, water their gardens, lawns and even wash their cars.

“However these non-essential activities can risk drawing water away from crucial requirements like hand washing, cleaning, cooking, washing and medical requirements. Thank you to everyone who is being considerate with the water they are using.

For water-saving tips and advice visit: https://www.southernwater.co.uk/help-advice/how-to-save-water

21 Comments

  1. You only have to have a few days of hot weather and southern water start harping on about the difficulty of supply, I suggest they use some of our £millions of pounds too sort this problem out..

    • The water Leaks in windmill street in Gravesend were running for days week’s and mouth’s there will is one that has been running in windmill street Gravesend.. Since march 2020…so answer that one southern water… You can’t supply on demand then the bill does not get played not rocket science is it… I suppose the leaks was meaded because of that embarrassing excuse the cornavirus… The country gone in too cloud cuckoo land and get worse by the day .. Sort it out… So what all my plants meant to die??? As I said can not supply then the bill does not get payed

    • A great idea.
      In the meanwhile, rather than run out of water, perhaps we could all cut back a little.

  2. It rains a lot more in the north than in the south east and has done for thousands of years, nothing to do with global warming, before the greens start banging their drum. Some years ago there was talk of a water pipeline from the north to east Kent not sure if it was just talk or weather they did anything about it.

    • We have had nothing but rain all summer aside from the odd day during June, July & the start of this month. Now we get a little bit of a mini heatwave for a week & nothing like 2018 & SW are whining again. What do these dummies expect? People are stuck at home scared to go anywhere & as usual the threats start-instead of the usual hosepipe ban & grass up your neighbours for washing their car routine-no doubt on its way, now it is your taps will run dry.

      A company that just a year ago was fined 126 million for polluting the environment & misreporting its performance & whose lofty ambition is to reduce leakage by 2 million litres per day down to 86 million litres & by 2040 down to 75 million litres per day might want to sort itself out.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48755329

      • We’ve not had much rain this summer! Our water butts are empty at present and I’m using washing-up water to water the garden

  3. Must be 40 years or more when they where looking at another reservoir in Kent but never was done instead they build thousands of houses with not a thought about infrastructure. KCC, local government and all the main governments clearly show that they couldn’t give a sh.. about the people of Kent just so they can build and keep on building without infrastructure. Brainless the lot of them. Also let’s stop the thousands of gallons in leaks which every year is mention but seem to never get any better.

  4. I agree Richard. Every few years Southern Water blame us for their short comings. We pay them millions annually for their water supply, and they can’t manage serve it up properly.
    If they cannot manage demands, they have no right to charge so much, until they do it properly.
    Only a few hundred of the thousands of new homes in Thanet have been built. I feel Southern Water need to look at themselves for blame.

    • Quite how they still have the right to run their network is bizarre considering the fine levied to them a year back for releasing vast swathes of sewage & being less than honest in its reporting. Talk about a monopoly-basically do as you please & never lose the franchise, like the rail companies.

      Southern Water has agreed to pay a record £126m in fines and payments to customers for “serious failures” in its sewage treatment works and for deliberately misreporting its performance. Water regulator Ofwat discovered wastewater spills into the environment caused by faulty equipment and a lack of necessary investment by the company. In addition, Ofwat found that Southern Water manipulated its wastewater sampling process, which helped it mask the poor performance of a number of sewage treatment sites and avoid penalties.

      The Environment Agency is also investigating Southern Water and expects to start court proceedings soon. “What we found in this case is shocking,” said Ofwat chief executive Rachel Fletcher. “In all, it shows the company was being run with scant regard for its responsibilities to society and the environment. It was not just the poor operational performance, but the co-ordinated efforts to hide and deceive customers of the fact that are so troubling.”

  5. I can’t see what the problem is. The Water industry has been privatised! So it should be working perfectly now. Isn’t that what we were promised?

    Surely , we couldn’t have been lied to!
    Impossible to believe that privatisation wasn’t really a way of improving services but was just a way of diverting cash into the pockets of the few owners.

    Any day now, Boris Johnson will be regaling us with tales of our “world-beating Water Industry” and we will cringe back and stop complaining because he’s “good old Boris”, always optimistic and would never let us down!

    What a sad country we have become.

    • Oh come on now-give them a chance, they have only had 31 years to get it right since Thatcher sold it all off, give them at least another century.

  6. I wonder if they’ve asked Thanet Earth to cut back on water use. All those glass houses use a lot of water! They have access to the aquifer and collect rain water -preventing it getting to the aquifer. More houses will increase water demand and increase run off from concrete surfaces. We need a national system and sensible infrastructure.

  7. Southern Water should be prepared for more usage during Summer months by now. Warm weather happens each year. Thousands more houses being built and more charges coming in should see them invest in building larger resevoirs holding much more water. That is the problem, not enough storage. If people are paying for their water then you can’t really expect them to use less just when they need to use more. We just had the wettest winter with floods everywhere but a few months later they are pleading with us to cut down what we use. Unbelievable!

    • There’s huge storage: the chalk aquifer on which we sit.
      The problem with our geology is that it doesn’t lend itself to huge storage reservoirs, unlike the Lake District.
      A joined-up water supply system whereby the excess water in the NW (and they have plenty of it) is distributed to the drier SE would be a good idea. Except that we have privatized water companies working in competition with each other.

      • Instead of having a National water grid like the National fuel grid for airports. They could do like manston airport is going to do with its fuel and bring the water in on tankers , simple!

        • Bringing in water by tanker!??!
          The last time I heard of such a thing I was on holiday on a Greek island . I couldn’t blame them. A small island, low rainfall and lots of tourists.
          But in England?
          Then again, if the daft idea of bringing jet fuel into Manston by lorry is regarded as sensible, anything could be possible.
          This country is going backwards!

          • Water, railways and all utility services should be national assets and not privatised organisations whose sole interest is excess charging to pay shareholders.

            Tories should remember this at the next election as the fear of the Corbinistas recedes withe the hope of a credible opposition emerging. I voted conservative to get free of Europe to to support the Eton brigade.

  8. Communication is the key always when theres a business relationship in solving all unprecedented issues & concerns especially during zCovid 19 lockdown for 4 months & some residents are still shielding.

  9. Stop building houses until Kent has another reservoir, it called common sense for all those in power working for the people.

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