SCOTTISH Water is asking customers to use water wisely in their daily activities to help maintain supplies during the current period of hot summer weather.

Following a sustained dry period without any significant rainfall, customer usage has increased significantly.

With the current weather conditions forecast to continue, Scottish Water is encouraging people to take simple but important steps to conserve our public water supplies.

In some areas there has been a 30per cent increase in demand for water during the summer so far and an additional 140 million litres are currently being produced and pushed through the system every day to meet current customer usage.

Scottish Water has been monitoring the situation closely and managing supplies across the country, including deploying additional resources to move water between distribution areas and tankering water to supplement local networks.

Some water treatment works and distribution networks are working at near capacity to meet demand.

Simple, practical steps which they encourage include:

• Taking shorter showers

• Using a watering can rather than a hose to water plants

• Using a bucket rather than a hose to wash vehicles; only washing windscreens/ lights instead of the whole vehicle

• Turning off taps in the home whenever possible

• Using washing machines and dishwashers fully loaded

Peter Farrer, Scottish Water’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “Water usage levels during the current hot summer weather, particularly during peak times such as morning and early evening, mean we are working around the clock to get water around the system quickly enough.”