As the temperature rises, specialists in Thames’ operational control room in Berkshire are able to calculate how much extra water Londoners and people across the south east will need to see them through a coming heatwave.
The UK’s largest water and wastewater company expects to put an extra 450 million litres of water a day into London and the Thames Valley’s pipes on very hot days, the equivalent to 900,000 paddling pools.
This increase in water consumption on a hot day is usually around 14 per cent in London, but in the Thames Valley, where 150 million extra litres will enter the pipes, this shoots up to 27 per cent as Londoners desert the city and holiday makers head for the Cotswolds.
Thames Water head of operations systems Mark Jenner said: “We have a team of specialists who weather-watch throughout the year and use their years of experience to estimate how much water our customers will use during a hot spell.
“In some places demand for water in the evening nearly triples, so it’s up to us to do the maths, put more water through our treatment works and get that extra water into supply.”
He added: “I’m pleased to say we don’t expect to need to introduce water restrictions this summer, but it only takes one or more winters with low levels of rainfall, followed by a hot, dry summer, to create a risk of shortages.
“So looking ahead, while we are working hard to sort out pipe leaks and help our customers be more water efficient, we also need to develop new sources of water as climate change and increases in population make shortages more likely.”
Over the course of a normal day, demand for water surges first thing in the morning as people wake up and take showers, and again in the evening as they return home. During a heatwave the evening water demand can be up to three times the daily average rate as paddling pools are filled up and customers cool off with an extra shower and follow advice to keep hydrated.
The specialist team of engineers work 24-hours a day to continuously assess weather patterns, using an intelligent modelling system to predict the demand for water and tweak the amount being treated from reservoirs and put into the region’s pipes.