Reservoir levels fall despite wettest day in months

Recent rainfall has provided a boost for Guernsey's reservoirs but water reserves are still falling and islanders are being urged to keep cutting back on their water use.

Guernsey Water said 6mm of rain fell on 19 August, making it the wettest day since 1 June and more rainfall than was recorded during the whole of July.

The rain slowed the decline in reservoir levels but did not reverse the overall trend.

Reservoirs were now 74.4% full, with storage levels around 10% below the seasonal average. Guernsey Water said that equated to about 400 million litres of water, or about a month's worth of summer demand.

The figures come after months of unusually dry weather.

In July, Guernsey Met Office said the island had received just 12.5% of its average monthly rainfall, although it stopped short of declaring drought conditions.

Last week, Guernsey Water collected 24 million litres of water but supplied 92.4m litres to customers, leaving a deficit of 68.4 million litres.

Water quality risk manager Daffyd Griffiths said: "The rain we've seen recently has certainly helped and we're always pleased to see water flowing into our reservoirs.

"However, as we'd expect for this time of year we're still using substantially more water than we're collecting."

He urged islanders to continue taking "sensible steps" to reduce consumption.

Griffiths added: "At the moment we are not considering a hosepipe ban. However, reducing demand now helps us preserve supplies for the months ahead and provides greater resilience if dry conditions continue."

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