Southern Water has 50-year plan to maintain supply

The plans include upgraded water treatment works to remove nitrates from aquifers

A water company said its customers could run out of water by 2034 without a series of planned interventions.

Southern Water, which covers Sussex and Kent, has put its draft water resources management plan out for public consultation.

The company said the plan, which looks ahead to 2075, has to take into account a predicted population growth of 10% in 30 years, along with climate change producing more extreme periods of wet and dry weather.

The plans include new technology to upgrade treatment works and a new reservoir in West Sussex.

The company currently supplies 565 litres of drinking water a day to households across Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and says it will need to find up to 587 million more by 2075 to meet growing demand.

Director of water Tim McMahon said: "For those who remember the 1976 drought, we’re planning for something that’s three times worse, and by 2050 something that’s eight times worse.

"We’re really planning for the long term to protect customers' water supplies by protecting the environment, and making sure the rivers are plentiful to keep fish and the ecosystem alive.”

Tim McMahon says the company is planning 50 years into the future

New treatment plants are already being upgraded to take nitrates out of water at treatment plants.

The chemicals, used in agriculture, seep into aquifers, a process speeded up with the wetter weather brought by climate change.

In Kent and Sussex there are plans for three water recycling plants to turn waste water into drinking water, and four desalination plants to turn sea water into drinking water.

There will also be an increased network of pipelines to transfer water to where it is most needed.

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