The water company announced this morning, October 16, that the hosepipe ban which has been in place since July in Oxfordshire and now affects 1.1m customers, would continue.
Despite recent rainfall, the company said, water resources need time to recover after what the Met Office recently classified “the hottest summer on record”.
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Nevil Muncaster, strategic water resources director at Thames Water, said: “This summer was ‘the hottest on record’ and in our region alone, we had less than half the rainfall we would have expected over the last few months, meaning rivers and groundwater levels in the west of our region are still under significant pressure.
“Most rainfall we have had has been soaked up by the excessively dry ground and hasn’t had a notable impact to the groundwater levels which feed the River Thames.
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“To restore reservoir levels to normal, we need at least 70 per cent of our average rainfall between now and spring.
“Our water resources will take time to recover. Consequently, current hosepipe restrictions will remain in place.
“We’d like to thank our customers for their continued support, saving more than five million litres of water each day since the hosepipe ban began.
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“We encourage everyone to keep using water wisely to protect our local rivers, reservoirs, and wildlife.
“We’ll keep customers and stakeholders updated as we move through the autumn and winter months.”
Customers are asked to take shorter showers, turn off taps, fix leaks, reduce washes and collect rainwater in a water butt to help reduce usage.