Up to a quarter of the water which is used by people living on the Isle of Wight for drinking, cooking, washing and toilet flushing comes from mainland Hampshire.

This is because there is not sufficient water on the Island itself to supply all of the 126,000 population and the extra visitors during the summer.

The water from the mainland is vital to top up the Island’s own resources which come predominantly from underground aquifers and the Eastern Yar and Medina rivers.

The major aquifers, underground rock which stores rainwater which has percolated through the earth, are the Chalk, the Upper Greensand and the Lower Greensand.
Due to the limited resources available on the Island it is important residents and businesses use water wisely and do not waste resources.

In 1988 the Island was chosen as the largest pilot scheme area for water meters when 51,000 homes were fitted with the devices. This helped reduce the demand for water by 20 per cent.

However, the demand for water on the Isle of Wight is predicted to increase by more than 15 per cent during the next 25 years.

This is due to people using more water in their homes and gardens, population growth and the impacts of climate change.

The new pipelines will allow up to 20 million litres of water to be transferred from the mainland each day to help meet this need.

This is potentially 70 per cent more than the 12 million litres which could be transferred previously.

The old pipes have been left in position because removing them may have disrupted the marine environment.