Water companies have been urged to protect supplies in light of the dry autumn that is expected to follow one of the hottest summers in UK history.
The predictions for high autumn temperatures come as the driest first seven months of the year in decades and hot spells have left parts of the UK facing looming drought. The situation has prompted Environment Secretary George Eustice to meet with chief executives of water companies, to discuss the resilience of the country's water supplies.
“Each company has a pre-agreed drought plan which they are following, and I have urged them to take any precautionary steps needed to protect essential supplies as we go into a likely very dry autumn,” he said.
In order to prepare for an autumn of water scarcity, many water companies – including South East, Southern and Welsh Water – have already announced hosepipe bans for customers in areas they supply.
The latest of these has been Thames Water, which supplies...