Jersey has been asked to save water as reserves in the island are running low after lack of rain during the autumn. Households have been requested not to use running water for washing. They have been advised to take showers instead of baths and to use their washing machines and dishwashers as little as possible. Cars should be washed from buckets and hoses should not be used for outside watering. Private households are responsible for about 60 per cent of water consumption in the island.
Jersey Water, the management and distribution company responsible for water in the island, has not announced official rationing but is warning that it may be necessary to import supplies by next summer if the situation does not improve.
Usually about 230 mm of rain falls in October and November, but this year there has been only 48 mm, coming after a dry spring and summer. The long-term forecast does not predict heavy rain in the next few weeks.
Most of the island’s water comes from reservoirs, but the levels are so low that Jersey Water is using the desalination plant at full capacity to produce about 30 per cent of the island’s present needs.
The original plant dates back to the 1970s but it was remodernised with a Reverse Osmosis process in 1999.
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