Melton residents endure days without water supply

Severn Trent Water say the issue is being caused by the huge demand for water and they have advised customers to conserve it for the next week by not using sprinklers or pressure washers.

Melton MP Alicia Kearns posted on social media that she had been contacted by constituents about the issues and she has pledged to push for the ‘resumption of full water services’.

One resident contacted the Melton Times to tell us: “We’ve had terrible issues with no supply in these conditions for the past six days now and l’m sure many others are the same.”

He said he had contacted Severn Trent and was told a variety of reasons why the water supply was down, including a burst pipe and air locks, and was promised a number of times it would be back on soon.

A spokesperson for Severn Trent Water thanked people for their understanding and said: “We’d like to apologise to customers in and around Leicestershire and surrounding areas who’ve had a couple of nights of low pressure or no supply.

“We know just how frustrating that must be for everyone, and we’re doing everything we can to keep your water flowing but it’s being caused by the huge spike in demand we’re seeing at the moment, with hundreds of millions of litres more treated water being used than last week.

“We’re working flat out to get more treated water into supply but, despite hitting record levels of production yesterday, customers are pretty much using the water as soon as we can make it.

“That means we’re looking at using tankers to bring water directly into your area to help keep your taps on but it’d also be great if everyone could also do their bit by using a bit less water, so we’re asking everyone to ditch the sprinkler and to ditch the pressure washer, at least for the next week.”

Severn Trent say they are currently coping with the biggest demand for water in the company’s 30-year history.

The dry spell coupled with people being isolated at home during the pandemic has led to householders, on average, using 20 per cent more than they would normally.

While the company’s reservoirs remain 85 per cent full of raw water, the challenge is treating and pumping it out fast enough to meet demand.

Severn Trent’s treatment works are working flat out and producing and pumping out 2.3 billion litres of treated water each day, or 95 million litres every hour of the day.

The company say supplies would be better saved for washing, drinking and cooking, especially at the moment.

Liv Garfield, CEO at Severn Trent, said: “We’re seeing the highest demand we’ve ever seen in our history at the moment.

“Our treatment works are already working at maximum and our pipes are carrying treated water as fast as they can to everyone, but the huge spike in demand means we’re seeing poor pressures in some areas as people use it up as fast as we can get it to them.

“We know everyone’s enjoying the sunny weather, but we’re appealing for them to cut back on non-essential use, especially outside, where they can over the next week. That’ll really help us keep up and make sure everyone gets the water they need for handwashing, cooking and drinking.”

The company says that a hose/sprinkler uses around 1,000 litres of water an hour, a paddling pool holds 400 litres - roughly the same as three people’s average daily usage, and jet washers use 36 litres a minute.