Anglian Water urges people in East of England to use less water as it braces for record June

Anglian Water is urging residents to use ‘a little less’ water as it gears up for what could be its busiest June on record.

This week, the company has seen a 30 per cent increase in water use across the East of England, bringing levels to about 1.4 billion litres a day.

Temperatures in Britain could rise above 30°C over the weekend, with Anglian Water preparing for even higher levels of water use as the summer continues.

Ian Rule, director of water services for Anglian Water said, on a normal day, it supplied about 1.1 million litres of drinking water to 4.3 million people.

Water supplies were in good health across the region, he said, with reservoirs 90 per cent full and groundwater levels in a good position for summer – but he warned it could not afford to be reckless.

“With temperatures predicted to climb we know we’ll exceed this by several hundreds of millions of litres a day as long as the hot weather is here, which will be a new record for this early in the summer,” he said.

“When the weather heats up, the demand for water significantly increases which puts added pressure on the water network.

“When everyone tries to draw on the water supply at the same time water pressure can dip, so customers may notice water can’t flow from their taps as freely as usual. We have an army of engineers working hard already to ensure everything is in the best shape possible before the hottest weather hits.

“We’re asking everyone to use a ‘little less’ wherever they can, so we can meet the demand and keep taps running for everyone.”

Anglian Water said the East of England is among the driest regions in the country and is fast growing, with 700,000 more people expected to live in the region within the next two decades.

It warned extreme weather such as heatwaves will become more common due to climate change.