Rainfall in autumn and winter helps fill water reserves ready for the following summer.
After a very dry summer, you can help top up water resources by using a little bit less – even when it’s raining outside.
What you can do to help
Taking simple steps to save water in the rainy months can make a big difference.
Balancing water supplies throughout the year
Typically, in summer we have lower rainfall but higher demand for water. In the colder months, there’s more rain and less demand, so the reservoirs get filled up.
A really hot, dry summer puts more strain on water resources. Unless there’s a very wet autumn and winter, we might not make up the shortfall.
Using just a little less water in the colder months helps resources to recover, so we can start next summer with reservoirs as full as possible.
Our action on water resilience
Water quality and resilience is one of our key strategic priorities. We’re tackling leaks on the network and investing so we can store more water.
Our future plans include building the Cheddar 2 reservoir, which will provide the South West with additional water resource.
Sunny weather
Summer 2025 was a scorcher - all three summer months in 2025 saw higher-than-average sunshine hours.
In August, we had just 62% of the average monthly rainfall.
Dry weather
This led to dry conditions in fields and gardens.
Our total water storage fell to XX of total capacity.
Climate change
Climate change means hot, dry summers are becoming more common. In the last ten years, we’ve seen three times more days above 30C than the 1961-1990 average.
Population growth is also adding to pressure on our water resources.
What we can do to help
To address this issue, we’re spending more to improve water storage, address leaks and strengthen resilience.
You can help by being careful with water, all year round – even when it’s pouring down outside.