Ardingly Reservoir falls below 17% as drought persists

Reservoir falls below 17% as drought persists Image source, Reuters Image caption, Ardingly Reservoir has fallen below 17% capacity, according to South East Water By Danny Pike , BBC Radio Sussex , Dominic King , BBC Radio Kent  and  Tanya Gupta , South East Published 54 minutes ago A reservoir in the south of England has fallen below 17% capacity after one of the hottest summers on record, South East Water has said. The company, which supplies Kent, Sussex and Hampshire, said the region remained in the midst of a drought and needed winter rainfall to replenish both reservoir and groundwater supplies. South East Water operations director Douglas Whitfield said Ardingly Reservoir in West Sussex had fallen below 17% and the company was monitoring levels daily to protect as much water as possible. He said a wet winter had been forecast but timings were not clear and the company was making any adjustments it could to protect supplies until the expected rainfall. Resources across the whole of the south of England were under stress, he said. Steps already taken include updated hosepipe restrictions , external brought in on 9 October and a drought permit , external granted by the Environment Agency, which allowed South East Water to keep more water in Ardingly Reservoir. Whitfield said 92 repair crews were out across Kent and Sussex tackling leaks, to minimise loss from the network. Following reports that Ardingly could dry up within weeks, Whitfield said that standpipes remained part of the company's drought plan but were unlikely to be needed. "We may end up with it, but it is unlikely," he said, "because it will need to remain very dry over the autumn and winter." Image source, Reuters Image caption, A drone image taken in August showed exposed banks around Ardingly Reservoir South East Water remains under scrutiny after a series of supply failures, including loss of supply to about 24,000 homes and businesses in the Tunbridge Wells area last winter. The firm is subject to oversight from independent monitors appointed by Ofwat to monitor progress on its turnaround plans. Image source, Press Association Image caption, Thousands of customers were affected by outages in the Tunbridge Wells area Tunbridge Wells Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin said he believed the risk of further supply problems in the area had reduced. He said work was still needed to address what he described as 20 years of underinvestment and to improve the Pembury water treatment plant, which serves the area. Jonathan Hawker, from campaign group Dry Wells Action Group, welcomed what he described as a more open approach from the company but said concerns remained. "It's encouraging that South East Water is treating the community it serves as grown-ups at last," he said. "What's concerning, of course, is that the underlying situation hasn't changed enough to give us a categorical reassurance that there will be no further outage. "We as a group believe that the community does need to get ready, because this is a risk for this coming winter." Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook , external , X , external , and Instagram , external and listen to BBC Radio Sussex on Sounds . Send your story ideas to [email protected] , external or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Related topics Drought Ardingly Royal Tunbridge Wells More on this story Team to oversee South East Water improvement plans Published 21 hours ago South East Water must pay £30.5m for supply failures Published 14 July 'Armageddon' as water issues hit 30,000 properties Published 12 January Related internet links South East Water