Demand for water in Yorkshire reached new levels yesterday – Thursday 19 July 2013- Yorkshire Water has confirmed, with the company providing its five million customers with 1.42 billion litres of water – a record high for the year so far.
Since the heatwave began, Yorkshire Water’s customers have been cooling off and quenching their thirst with around 100 million litres a day more than the 1.3 billion they usually get through.
The additional water being used is enough to fill 40 Olympic swimming pools everyday. While groundwater, rivers and reservoirs are all relatively healthy for this time of year, the current increase in demand has led to the company increasing output from its 63 water treatment works
Matt Thompson of Yorkshire Water said:
Water supplies are relatively healthy for this time of year, following last year’s summer which was the wettest we’ve seen for 100 years.
We know that there’s a spike in demand whenever temperatures rise and we’re certainly seeing that at the moment, with our water treatment works being cranked up a notch to produce in excess of 120 million litres of water more than usual on a daily basis. We also plan for local spikes too – so this weekend, we’re expecting water consumption on the coast to rocket as people flock to places like Scarborough and Bridlington.
With all the warm weather we’re seeing, we’re taking the opportunity to remind customers to be water-wise and only use what they need.
To make it easier for customers to save water – and money – we’re offering free water saving packs from our website, yorkshirewater.com/savewater, as well as visiting cities and towns across the region over the next couple of months where we’ll be giving away all manner of useful water saving gadgets, from gel crystals to mix in with your compost through to plant sticks which indicate when to water your plants, and flush savers.
Yorkshire Water will be giving away water saving gadgets at the following locations over the summer.
19-20 July – Parliament Square, York
3 August – Huddersfield City Centre
4 August – Yorkshire Day, Skipton
10 August – Halifax Agricultural Show
17 August – Queen Victoria Centre, Hull
21 August – Hornsea Freeport
31 August – Fargate, Sheffield
After a number of incidents over last weekend and with school half-terms fast approaching, Yorkshire Water is also urging people not to risk their lives by swimming in its reservoirs.
Wardens at numerous reservoirs across the region had to ask people to get out of reservoirs last weekend.
Reservoirs may seem like a good place to take a swim to cool down but they are extremely dangerous due to the chilling temperatures and the strong under-currents beneath the surface..
