West Sussex County council and water companies agree to work together

A HOSEPIPE ban for a large part of West Sussex, which comes into force tomorrow (Thursday, April 5), led to a drought summit last week.

Members of West Sussex County Council met with representatives from water companies and the Environment Agency during the summit at County Hall.

Deputy leader Lionel Barnard said: “It was a good chance for us to find out more about the situation in the county, and we will be doing all we can as a local authority, not only to lead by example in terms of saving water, but by encouraging residents to do the same.”

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The meeting was attended by Southern Water and South East Water, which are both introducing restrictions, and Portsmouth Water, which is not introducing a hosepipe ban but has urged its customers to exercise “voluntary restraint” over the coming months.

Outlining some of the ways the county council will be saving water, Mr Barnard said: “Many of our services are actively looking at ways of saving water, such as fire and rescue which can carry out dry training drills unless they are safety critical.

“Hoses are charged to make sure pumps work, but are then turned off at the branch to avoid water being wasted.

“Vehicle cleaning will be kept to minimum, and only safety critical elements will be cleaned daily using buckets and sponges, such as headlights and other vehicle lights, windscreens etc.”

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He added: “We also agreed that a further meeting to review the situation should be held in the next four to six weeks, and we will be inviting other key stakeholders such as the leaders of our district and borough councils.”

More details about the restrictions and water saving tips can be found on the planning and dealing with emergencies pages at www.westsussex.gov.uk.

A full list of restrictions can be found online on the Hosepipe Ban website.

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