West Midlands: Water companies say no hosepipe bans

The news comes as the country's largest reservoirs, including Trimpley and Bartley, have been seen bursting with water following record downpours.

England saw a record amount of rainfall in the year and a half leading up to last month.

According to figures from the Met Office, 1,695.9mm of rain fell from October 2022 to March 2024.

It is the highest amount of rain for any 18-month period in England since records started in 1836.

Water companies said the levels are in a 'healthy' position with no plans for hose pipe bans.

David Harris, South West Water’s Drought and Resilience Director, said: “As a direct result of our investments, interventions, the weather and our customers reducing their use of water, we are confident that we are in a strong position to navigate whatever weather we face this year without the need for water restrictions.

"This does not mean we will stop our efforts there, we will continue to invest and deliver clean water supplies across our region and prepare as much as we can for climate change and unpredictable weather patterns."

A Wessex Water spokesperson agreed that there is currently "no prospect of any restrictions". 

Bartley Reservoir (Image: SWNS)

Images have shown particularly high levels of water at Bartley Reservoir in South Birmingham and Trimpley Reservoir in Worcestershire. 

Also looking full are Carsington Water, Derbyshire, Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire and Blagdon Lake in Bristol.

Nick Price, Head of Water Resources at South East Water, similarly said they do not expect any shortage of water this year.

Mr Price said: "All of our raw water resources are in a healthy position at the current time and are slightly above average levels, which is where we would expect them to be given this winter’s record rainfall.

"As with last year, we do not expect there to be any shortage of raw water available for treatment but with the extended hot periods we have experienced in the South East in the last few summers, we haven’t always been able to treat and pump the water to our customers quickly enough during those periods of very high demand.

“This means that our cleaned water storage tanks are sometimes unable to refill fully overnight.

“To help we are about to start a water efficiency campaign with our customers asking them to make one small change this summer, aimed at flattening the extreme demand peaks we have seen in previous years.”

Thames Water hopes to reassure customers that the wet weather experienced this winter means their water resources have been replenished and are in "a good place ahead of summer, with rainfall well above average."

A spokesperson for Thames Water added: “We carefully monitor our water resources, and while we currently don’t anticipate the need for a hosepipe ban this summer, we do encourage our customers to use water wisely as we head into spring."

Welsh Water are also comfortable with their water levels this year - but still urge people "not to waste it".