JERSEY Water’s storage levels are in a “better position” than they were this time last year despite the recent heatwave-driven increase in usage.
Head of water resilience, Mark Bowden, described the current situation as “comfortable”, but stressed that the utility company was “never complacent”.
Jersey Water stated on Wednesday that it was “closely monitoring both water reserves and demand” amid the high temperatures, noting that Islanders used around 21 million litres of water per day over the last weekend – approximately three million litres more than the typical daily average for May.
“Looking ahead to peak summer, daily demand is expected to exceed 23 million litres,” the company added.
However, reservoir levels are currently 96% full, with Mr Bowden highlighting that this was “a better position” than the same time last year when the figure stood at 90%.
He said: “Our water resources are always potentially fragile and vulnerable to an extended dry period, but one hot weekend or one dry month really doesn’t cause us too much concern or problems.”
Mr Bowden also noted that the desalination plant was being prepared to be “in a state of readiness to run”, to ensure that – if needed – the facility could provide “a little bit of a boost on our resources”.
It produced over 500 million litres of water in 2025 – more than twice the capacity of Grands Vaux Reservoir.
A five year strategy unveiled by Jersey Water in October includes plans to expand the plant’s capacity by 50%.
Mr Bowden referred to the facility’s expansion as the “preferred option” from a long-term water resource planning perspective, pointing out that the construction of a new reservoir would potentially cost “hundreds of millions of pounds” and take decades to implement.
