Scottish Water is advising people across Ayrshire to use water efficiently as demand for water has increased by 20 per cent in the past day.

The publicly-owned utility is having to produce more than 200 million litres of extra water per day nationwide to maintain normal supplies - enough water to fill 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools or 2.4 million baths.

In Ayrshire, it is reconfiguring its network of water mains and working round-the-clock to bring water in from other areas in an effort to maintain normal supplies.

It comes as yesterday homes in South Carrick ran out of water as the heatwave continued.

Now Scottish Water is calling on all customers across Ayrshire to help protect water supplies and use water more efficiently by doing things like:

  • Use a watering can instead of a garden hose because hoses and sprinklers can use about 1000 litres per hour – more than the equivalent of 12 baths;
  • Don’t use jet washers, which use an average of 36 litres of water;
  • Don’t use paddling pools, which use an average of 400 litres of water (if pools are used try quarter filling them and using the water to water your garden afterwards);
  • Turn the tap off when brushing teeth;
  • Use washing machines and dishwashers only when fully loaded

The call is aimed at customers in communities throughout Ayrshire, from large towns like Ayr and Irvine, to popular seaside resorts and small rural communities, and at summer holidaymakers and visitors. 

Last week, demand across the country was so high that Scottish Water had to provide 100 million litres of extra water per day, compared with normal levels at this time of year.

Cumnock Chronicle: Demand for water increased by 20%Demand for water increased by 20%

Kes Juskowiak, Scottish Water’s Water Operations General Manager, said: “We are appealing to our customers across Ayrshire to use water as efficiently as they can.

“These are very challenging conditions because of the warm, dry weather we’ve been experiencing.

“Current levels are below average for this time of year but the main issue is demand for water from customers, which has increased considerably during the warm weather. It’s not isolated to one group but rather is the result of how we all use water in warm weather, particularly in the garden.

“When garden water use increases dramatically, for things like sprinklers and paddling pools, that places considerable strain across our infrastructure to move the water as quickly as the customers need it.

“We are working hard to support the increase in tourism across our Ayrshire and the rest of our wonderful country, but we are asking all our customers to be more water efficient and aware of how the use water.

“If people in Ayrshire - residents and visitors or holidaymakers - can take some small, simple steps to reduce their water use, they can make a big contribution towards our efforts to maintain normal supplies for everyone.”