Water supplies tend to be depleted at this time of year following the spring and summer months, when seasonal rainfall is usually lower than in the autumn and winter.
According to the most recent measurements the Islands’ reservoirs are currently at 51 per cent of their capacity – just below the ten-year average.
However, although Queen’s Valley and Val de la Mare reservoirs appear low, as they have recently been ‘drawn from’, other reservoirs, such as Handois, are at 100 per cent capacity, a Jersey Water spokesman said.
He added: ‘We have six reservoirs across the Island which are interlinked so we can move water around. We’re at 51 per cent across all six reservoirs, which is below the ten-year average but there is no need for concern.’
Jersey Water estimates that Islanders use between 18 and 23 megalitres [one megalitre comprises a million litres] a day. On Friday 18.6 megalitres was used in Jersey.
The spokesman said that the company was not currently considering using the desalination plant. When operational, the plant removes salt from sea water before pumping water into Val de la Mare reservoir for dilution with fresh water.
‘Everything is as it should be,’ the spokesman added. ‘We had quite a lot of rain on Sunday, which will filter through into the reservoirs and fill them up.
‘Now we’ve gone into winter the customer demand will be less. If we had this amount in July or August we would be considering action, as water demand is higher then. There’s a much lower demand [during the autumn and winter], as people don’t want to use outdoor pools, there is not as much power-washing or car washing and people won’t be watering their gardens.
‘It’s only when we hit the spring that people want to do those things.’
