Southern Water has applied to the Environment Agency for a precautionary drought permit at its Bewl Water reservoir in Kent. Following depletion arising from last year’s dry winter the reservoir is 44% full at a time when it should be closer to three quarters full according to the company.
Last month Bewl held only a third of its maximum capacity – “an exceptionally low level,” said Southern. The firm is applying for a permit that will allow it to take more water from the River Medway under specified conditions. The permit will help Southern to recharge the reservoir ahead of the demand increase next summer.
Southern’s director of compliance and asset resilience, Dr Alison Hoyle, said: “Summer rains helped slightly but a very dry autumn and early winter makes it important that we use every tool at our disposal to ensure that Bewl refills over the winter.
"It is vital that we can put more water into it and we would like to see it reach levels of 75% before the end of March."
The reservoir supplies Southern’s customers in the Medway towns, Thanet and Hastings, and it is also used by South East Water.
Under its current licence Southern could only take water from the Medway in January when the river’s flow rate topped 200 million litres a day – increasing to 275 Ml/d in March. The drought permit will allow Southern to take water from the river until the flow rate falls to 150 million litres a day, from the day the permit is granted to 31 March 2018.