River Test drought order – what it means

A spokesperson for Southern Water said: 

"The drought order we’ve applied for is a future contingency measure to ensure we keep taps running. But we don’t anticipate having to use it – nor will it allow us to take more water than normal.

“That’s thanks to households and businesses across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight using less water, and our teams working around the clock to fix leaks and optimise our network of water pipes and supply works.

“In the longer term, we’re working hard to introduce new sources of water in the UK’s largest water resource project Water For Life – Hampshire including work underway on England's first reservoir in 30 years and pipelines to help us move water around the region. This will ensure we continue to play our part in protecting our chalk streams, and the wildlife that depends on it. 

What is a drought order and why has Southern Water applied for it at the River Test? 

We follow a strict legal process, set by the government and regulators, to ensure we are taking the correct steps to keep both supplying water to our customers and to mitigate any negative environmental impact at the same time.  

Following the driest Spring in 132 years, which caused water shortages across the country, we have to plan for contingencies should this prolonged dry spell continue.  

A drought order would allow us to continue to take water from the River Test to keep customers’ taps running. 

Does this mean Southern Water will be taking more water from the River Test?

No. It means we will have permission to abstract the same amount from the River Test even if river flows are lower. 

We must be clear, applying is a contingency precaution – it would only need to be implemented in a worst-case scenario. Currently, there’s a very low chance of this happening because of the community’s support for our hosepipe ban and business water saving incentive scheme, combined with our teams’ work to tackle leaks and optimise our network of pipes and supply works.  

What is Southern Water doing to protect the River Test?

We’re committed to improving the River Test and River Itchen, as an active member of the Test and Itchen Catchment Partnership. This has seen us fund a number of catchment improvement projects. Overall, we are delivering more than £150m worth of work to improve water quality and in river habitat improvements on both chalk rivers in progress.  

What is Southern Water doing to invest plan for droughts in future years and now? 

• We’re spending more than £6bn on water alone over the next five years in our business plan 
• We’re spending £330m on building a reservoir in Hampshire at Havant Thicket, that will hold 8.7 billion litres of water 
• We’ve also started huge major infrastructure projects to transfer water, this includes the Southampton Link Main
• We’re investing more than £350m to improve our water supply works at Otterbourne and Testwood 
• We’re investing in water recycling, to reduce the amount of water we need to take from the environment during a drought. This includes spending £1.2bn on the Hampshire Water and Recycling Project and £190m to build the Isle of Wight Water Recycling Project.