It’s no secret that the last ten days have been rough. While hot spells put pressure on any water network, our region, particularly Kent, is a uniquely water-stressed environment. We plan for this, but when sudden demand hits record highs, the impact on our underground system is immediate.
We’re well on the way to fixing the operational issues caused by last week’s heatwave, but the job isn't finished yet.
The reality of the recovery
Even though the temperature has dropped outside and we’ve had some rain, our underground drinking water storage tanks are still catching up. When hundreds of thousands of taps turn on at once, these tanks drain rapidly. Rebuilding those reserves takes a sustained period of lower demand, especially while we carry out technical repairs to ensure our infrastructure is more resilient moving forward.
What we need right now
We don’t expect you to stop using water for your daily needs. Any reductions in water use today will help the system recover and protect your local supplies. This just is a straight request for help while our network gets back on its feet.
If you can hold back on heavy water use for just a bit longer, take a shorter shower, or ensure appliances are fully loaded before running them you are directly helping us get the system stable again.
Our teams are out on the streets tackling leaks. We just need a little assistance from the taps to get us into a more comfortable position for everyone.
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