THE giant Wimbleball Lake, on Exmoor, was nearly 60 per cent empty at the weekend as South West Water (SWW) announced a hosepipe ban will start next week in some areas for the first time since 1996.
Last week, we reported Wimbleball was less than half full following weeks of dry weather, and by Sunday – before the heatwave was broken by thunderstorms which rolled across the area – it had dropped further to just 42.1 per cent of capacity.
A spokesman said: “It is the first time in 26 years but we have been left with no other choice.
“We need to have a hosepipe ban now to protect our precious water.”
The spokesman said there had been ‘very little rain’ for the past eight months and July was the driest for nearly 100 years.
“In the South West we get most of our drinking water from surface water sources, that is our rivers and reservoirs,” he said. “Right now, those levels across the South West are much lower than usual for this time of year.” At the same time, demand for water had been soaring and the weather was forecast to remain warm throughout the rest of the month and during September.
“Combining that with high levels of demand and the risk of the increase in wildfires across the region means we must take action now,” he said.
By contrast, Wessex Water this week said it did not need to follow SWW’s lead and introduce water restrictions despite the driest start to a year since 1976.
A spokesman said: “Our groundwater and reservoir levels are below average, as expected at this time of year, but we have no plans to introduce a hosepipe ban.
“We are unusual in that 75 per cent of our water is groundwater and only 25 per cent surface water from reservoirs.
“This contrasts with the national picture where only about 30 per cent comes from groundwater.
“Groundwater is more resilient, so providing we get 80 per cent of normal winter rain we will not have any problems next year.”