Reservoir levels increase by 10% since hosepipe ban

After one month of the hosepipe ban, reservoir levels have increased to 65%

Reservoir levels in Jersey have increased to 65% after one month of the island-wide hosepipe ban, Jersey Water has announced.

The ban was implemented on 26 August after an "exceptionally dry summer".

Jersey water said the desalination plant had produced "just over 400 million litres" since the beginning of August.

It said the ban had "really helped demand levels", which had fallen by about 15%.

Mark Bowden, asset manager for Jersey Water, said the hosepipe ban would be reviewed in October, but would depend on future weather forecasts and the reservoirs' rates of recovery.

He said: “They’ve actually stopped dropping at the moment, but it takes a long time for a drought to develop over the course of the great summer that we have had and equally, it’s going to take a long time for them to recover.

“So we expect if the rain continues… a good quality rain, heavy and persistent, it’s going to take a bit more than that for us to recharge the groundwater and to recharge the streams and then our reservoir levels will start to recover.”

He added the low reservoir levels had given Jersey Water the opportunity to carry out maintenance work.