News

This latest update comes with some welcome good news. 

The work we have been doing to conserve water supplies and abstract water from other sources combined with the help from customers in reducing their own usage as well as the recent rainfall and slightly cooler temperatures means we are now in a position to call off the hosepipe ban planned for this weekend.

This decision has been taken in the context of the improved position in our water resources and not wanting to inconvenience customers for a moment longer than is necessary. However, the long range forecast from the Met Office is one of relatively dry weather into the autumn, so future restrictions are still a possibility if more rain doesn’t arrive and if we see a significant increase in demand.

We are continuing to step up our response with our leakage teams working 24 hours a day to find and repair as many leaks as possible.  Our operational teams are out and about much more than usual making interventions such as installing new pumping stations, pumping between reservoirs, bringing ground water sources into use and prioritising maintenance to help ensure supplies are not interrupted during this prolonged dry spell.

As you would expect, we are working closely with the Environment Agency in monitoring the situation to ensure we have enough water in supply right across the region while balancing the needs of customers and the impact on water sources and the local environment.  We are still urging customers to help us by using water wisely where they can.

We’ve all been enjoying the lovely, hot weather but the lack of rain and high demand for water means our reservoirs are now lower than we’d like them to be at this time of year.

That’s why a hosepipe ban will be introduced across the North West from 5^th August 2018. This means householders won’t be allowed to use either a hosepipe or sprinkler as these use an incredible amount of water.

We know hosepipe bans can be inconvenient but by taking these steps now, we can make sure we have enough water for more essential things like drinking, washing and cooking.

You can find everything you need to know about the introduction of a hosepipe ban at unitedutilities.com including:

• Our address checker to see when the ban will be introduced in your area.
• Full details about what is and isn’t included in the hosepipe ban.
• Our question and answer document which gives more details on what you can and can’t do.

Our website has an accessibility toolbar called Recite Me which lets you change the colour, font, text size, language, audio and much more to suit your particular needs.

We’d like to remind everyone to stay hydrated during the warm weather by drinking plenty of water as well as helping to save water in other ways – even before the ban starts.

Saving water is really easy – don’t use hosepipes and garden sprinklers to water gardens, as they use huge amounts of water.  Use a watering can instead, or even better, reuse any water from the home such as water from washing up bowls, it won’t harm your grass or plants and every little bit really will help!

For more ways to save water visit our tips page on unitedutilities.com, where you can also order FREE water saving gadgets to help save the amount of water you use.