Severn Trent secures Derbyshire drought permit

(by Karma Loveday)

The Environment Agency has approved Severn Trent’s application for a drought permit to refill the Carsington and Ogden reservoirs in Derbyshire.

Severn Trent has an abstraction licence to take water from the River Derwent at Ambergate to fill its Carsington and Ogston reservoirs. The licence stipulates that the water company must reduce abstraction to 15 megalitres of water per day (Ml/d) when the average daily flow in the River Derwent is below 680Ml/d. The drought permit changes this so the company only needs to reduce abstraction when the river is recording a lower average daily flow of 500Ml/d.

The East and West Midlands have been in drought since July. At the end of October, East Midlands reservoirs were 48% full, compared with 85% at the same time last year.

• Southern Water has lifted the hosepipe ban that has been in place for customers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight since July. The company cited wetter September and October weather, customer response in cutting demand and accelerated leakage detection and repair.