Since January, the company has found and fixed 2,840 leaks, saving approximately 27 million litres of water per day.
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“While the hosepipe ban comes into force on 10 July, we’re asking customers to start reducing their water use now,” Flasck said.
“I want to thank people for the incredible efforts they made last year to save water during the hosepipe ban.”
Environmental Concerns
Environmental groups warned that excessive abstraction threatens fragile aquatic ecosystems.
Paul Vignaux, Executive Director of the Test and Itchen Association, noted that the region has no reservoirs and relies entirely on rivers and aquifers.
“When the flow gets slow the temperature rises and pollution gets concentrated,” Vignaux said.
“Fish are finding it difficult to navigate up and down the rivers and so they are hiding in ever shrinking bits of river where they can keep their temperature down.”
South East Water Chief Executive David Hinton said the surge in domestic water demand during the heatwave surpassed treatment facilities' refill capacity.
“To make sure we can maintain a consistent public water service and protect essential supplies for hygiene, drinking and cooking for everyone, especially our vulnerable customers, we must reduce overall demand,” he said.
The company stated that prosecution is a last resort and that the ban will likely continue until demand reduces to manageable levels.
Other regional utilities, including Thames Water and Affinity Water, have stopped short of full bans but urged voluntary restrictions.
Thames Water advised customers not to use hosepipes or sprinklers during heatwaves.
The Environment Agency and National Drought Group warned that rising temperatures will continue to stress infrastructure.
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Helen Wakeham, National Drought Group Chair, said: “Heatwaves will continue to be a concern as they can drive spikes in water demand, so we need to continue to work collaboratively to use our finite water wisely.”
