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Thames Water executive predicts drought in 2012




Britain’s biggest water company reflects on a manic twelve months which was one of the coldest and driest on record

FROM pipes bursting during the coldest January in 20 years to a heavy fine for polluting two local rivers, it has been a busy year for Thames Water, which faces further challenges in 2012 with a drought predicted.

Britain's biggest water company is reflecting on a manic twelve months which was one of the coldest and driest on record.

The region experienced one of the coldest starts to the year in two decades with freezing conditions causing pipes to burst on Thames Water's 20,000-mile network.

In the same month, Thames Water declared an amnesty for customers who use water without receiving a bill. Two months later, more than 5,600 people had called the firm's hotline.

In March, conservationists and anglers called on the Environment Agency not to renew Thames Water's license to pump 639 million litres of water from the River Kennet each year. Their campaign failed when the Environment Agency renewed the water company's license two months later.

In the summer, Thames Water confirmed it was to become the official water provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

September started with the announcement that a £800,000 project to expand Hungerford reservoir's capacity by a third was near completion. Thames Water started extending the reservoir off Salisbury Road in February to safeguard the town's water resources for at least the next 25 years.

The company's energy-from waste activities entered a new chapter in the autumn with a new machine designed to dry sewage sludge into renewable fuel flakes, saving £300,000-a-year in energy bills.

October saw Thames Water adopt 40,000km of sewers from private owners overnight, increasing the company's network by 60 per cent.

The following month work began to replace century-old pipes underneath Essex Street in Newbury, the site of The First Battle of Newbury in 1643.

In December, Thames Water was ordered to pay £61,049 at Winchester Crown Court after admitting an individual mistake caused approximately 22,000 fish to die when sewage was leaked into Silchester Brook and Foudry Brook on July 20, 2010.

The year ended with Thames Water asking its customers to conserve water as well as the launch of awareness campaigns to protect local rivers ahead of an expected drought next year.

Thames Water's chief executive, Martin Baggs, said: “As we say goodbye to 2011 we find ourselves facing the very real threat of a drought next spring, having had one of the driest years on record. To ensure we are as prepared as possible, we all really need to use water wisely – e.g. not leaving taps running while we brush our teeth can save six litres a minute, and a minute less in the shower can save 10 litres.

“We'd like to wish all of our customers a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year and hope they have all had a very water-efficient festive break.”



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