Plans to deal with water shortage

A 25-year plan to deal with a projected shortfall in water supplies has been published by Severn Trent.

The company said the proposed strategy is aimed at maintaining the balance between supply and demand for water to avoid future restrictions.

The plan was released on Wednesday and is open to public consultation.

Severn Trent serves more than eight million customers from the Bristol Channel to the Humber, and from mid-Wales to the East Midlands.

The company is encouraging sensible use of water to stop wastage. The plan also includes measures to cope with climate change.

No summer restrictions

Paul Baxter, Severn Trent's water strategy manager, said: "We do a long-term forecast on how much water customers need and then we look at various solutions that we can put in place in order to meet that demand."

The solutions include reducing leakage, encouraging water efficiency and also creating new water sources in order to provide extra water.

Mr Baxter told BBC Radio Nottingham that the company was "not expecting" water restrictions this summer since the reservoirs were full after the recent rains.

"We are planning some schemes to make better use of the water we have, by putting some additional pipe work in.

"We are also planning in the next 10 years or so to increase our levels of abstraction from the River Trent to supply more water to Nottingham," he said.