Hosepipes of 1.4 million South East Water customers in parts of Kent and Sussex can again be used as restrictions on their use have now been lifted.
Temporary User Bans (TUBs) were put in place by the water company back in August following the driest summer since 1976, resulting in record demands for water.
With heavy rainfall during the past two months, there has been a steady recovery of water sources. The first week of November alone saw 107% of the total long-term average monthly rainfall and by November 20 there had been close to two months of rainfall in just three weeks.
Lee Dance, head of water resources for South East Water said; “In July, we received only eight percent of average rainfall, and demand for water from our customers was exceptional. Now, due to the consistent rainfall in the past four weeks, we can lift our hosepipe bans as we have seen more than 2.5 billion litres of water run into Ardingly reservoir, resulting in it being close to 75% full.”
Image Credits: South East Water / Ciaran McCrickard .