Severn Trent: 'High demand' leaves thousands without water

A resident in Stafford said they were experiencing low water pressure and sent in this photo of cloudy water from their tap

Thousands of people have been left without water because lockdown and the warm weather have led to a surge in demand, a supplier has said.

Severn Trent Water said its reservoirs were 85% full but it could not treat and pump the water out fast enough to meet demand.

About 2,000 homes across the Midlands have been affected.

The firm urged customers to stop using sprinklers and pressure washers to ensure there is water for hand washing.

People in Wolverhampton and Stafford reported being without water or having low water pressure since Thursday.

There are also problems in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Shropshire.

Severn Trent said the combination of the weather, low rainfall, and more people working from home had led to a "big increase in demand".

Across the Midlands households were "using hundreds of millions of litres more than they usually do", the firm said.

A Severn Trent spokesman said: "Last week we hit our biggest ever demand which was about 20% more than the week before.

He added: "We've ramped up production of treated water to record levels in response, but we'd love it if everyone could ditch the sprinklers and the pressure washers to make sure there's enough water for the great hygiene we all need at the moment."

Kelly Beach, who has a six-day-old baby, said she had struggled with water supply in Essington, south Staffordshire.

She said: "It's been hard to sterilise the bottles and to feed, I've had to get my mum up to bring water up because the shops are running out.

"I had a C-section, so I need to keep clean for infections, it's been hard, very hard.

Kelly Beach and Josh Davis with baby Isaac and his older brother

Her partner and Josh Davis said: "It's been the last four days, when five or six comes round it [water] shuts off and that's it for the whole night."

Chief executive of Severn Trent, Liv Garfield, said customers living on "high elevations" would struggle with low pressure.

"We've got unprecedented demand in 30 years where water is being used at levels unseen before."

John Eccleston, 45, also from Essington, said his supply had been intermittent since Thursday with no water available at all in the evenings.

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"You turn the tap on and it's just air," he said.

"We can manage, but we're more concerned about the vulnerable."

Cllr Adam Hicken, from Walsall, said his entire ward area had been affected.

"The local Aldi store has run out of water as it did on Friday night because everyone's buying bottled water," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.