THAMES Water has shared figures which show that demand rose by more than 1 billion litres of extra water over scorching May bank holiday last week.
The Met Office confirmed that the UK saw its hottest May temperatures on record with 35.1°C recorded at Kew Gardens last week.
The water provider has said that an exceptional early heatwave led to a sharp rise in water use across Thames Water’s region.
In some areas, household water use increased by up to 50 per cent in homes with gardens.
Saturday, May 23, saw an increase of 356 million litres, followed by a further 302 million litres on Sunday, May 24, and 387 million litres on Bank Holiday Monday.
London demand was consistently over 2,000 million litres a day over the period, peaking at 2,140 million litres a day–a rise of 252 million litres.
Thames Valley and Home Counties also saw a sustained rise in usage, reaching more than 740 million litres a day.
This represents an increase of 135 million litres.
That extra demand is enough to fill St Paul’s Cathedral around seven times over or provide drinking water for over 1.3m people for an entire year.
This surge is being driven by peak outdoor use, including watering gardens, filling paddling pools and using hoses and sprinklers, often all at the same time.
Hot, dry conditions are also increasing pressure on the network, as the ground shifts and raises the risk of leaks.
Thames Water says that it is investing in the biggest update to its network in 150 years, including replacing and reinforcing pipes and infrastructure, with a view to reducing leaks and improve system resilience.
