River Test Drought Order now not needed
We have paused our River Test Drought Order application following increased rainfall and the water-saving support of Hampshire and Isle of Wight communities.
Following a strict legal process, set by government and regulators, to make sure we were taking every possible precaution to keep taps flowing, we formally made this request at a hearing in August.
If approved, it would have allowed us to continue to take water from the Test, if levels were to fall below current limits for abstraction – and we set out a series of measures to help support the environment if this were to happen.
But we were confident throughout that the likelihood of actually needing to implement this step was very low – and this has now been proven correct, with river levels now consistently high enough so that we can pause this process and not require Environment Secretary sign-off.
Our Water Managing Director Tim McMahon said:
“This is a really positive step, and it is thanks to the amazing support of our customers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in saving water, alongside a very welcome increase in rainfall, that we have been able to pause this process and not risk harm to this precious chalk stream.
“Making this application was always a precautionary move, and one which we never wanted to implement, so we are delighted to be moving away from it now. However, after an incredibly dry first half of the year, our water resources are still not where we would like them to be – that's why for now, the hosepipe ban remains in place and we are grateful for our communities’ ongoing support.”