Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood has urged people to use their water carefully over the coming weeks after the Rhondda was identified as being vulnerable to drought.
The AM for South Wales Central was speaking after Dwr Cymru issued a warning about the lack of water contained in some of their reservoirs.
The sustained period of recent hot weather has meant only around three quarters of the normal rainfall levels have fallen in Wales this year. Dwr Cymru state that as a result, their reservoirs are only about 70% full at the moment. The company said reservoirs “should be around 85% full this time of year to get us through a dry summer without difficulty.”
The bottom part of the Rhondda has now been identified as one of four ‘hot-spots’ in Wales where Dwr Cymru say “things could get particularly tight if the dry weather persists into August and September and our customers continue to use tap water on their gardens without moderation.”
To combat the lack of rainfall, Dwr Cymru has been tankering water to a small water treatment works over at Llynfawr near Hirwaun, and secured the service of another 25 tankers just in case in water levels drop even further.
Ms Wood said: “While the hot weather in Wales this summer has made a nice change from what we normally get, it inevitably has implications on our reservoirs and therefore the amount of water we can use.
“Although it seems to make no sense given the amount of rain we get but I hope people heed the advice of Dwr Cymru in cutting back, especially on their use of water sprinklers which are incredibly demanding on supplies. A sprinkler has been found to use more water in one hour than a family would typically use in two days.
“Relatively minor changes now could stave off a far more serious situation in a month or two’s time if the hot weather continues unabated.”
Ms Wood added: “Now may be the time to invest in a few water butts – these can be invaluable at times like this, because they catch rainwater which would have otherwise been wasted, and it avoids using the clean water supplies.”
