12 June 2006
The UK's largest water company has applied for new powers to restrict water usage even further.
Thames Water, which provides water to 3.7 million homes in the south-east, said that customers in the Thames Valley area would be unaffected by any initial order, although they could be affected by further restrictions later in the summer.
It is the first application for such an order in London in 30 years.
Last month, the company decided against applying for a Drought Order, despite the fact that it had been encouraged to impose further restrictions on its customers by the Environment Agency.
At the time, it said that increasing reservoir storage and falling usage made further restrictions unnecessary, but had warned it was closely monitoring the situation.
"May's above-average rainfall dampened demand, boosted river flows and allowed us to recharge reservoirs, but the underlying situation remains serious with groundwater levels in most areas very low," said the chief executive, Jeremy Pelczer.
"We simply don't know how much rain we will get in the rest of the summer, and if the weather is unusually hot and dry we will need to restrict water use more than we are at present. So we believe it is sensible to apply for a Drought Order now, even though normal levels of summer rainfall would mean that further restrictions are not needed."
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