Rugby residents urged to think about water use after supplies in the town are interrupted

The request from Severn Trent Water comes after some properties were left without water, or on low pressure, on Thursday evening due to a spike in demand.

People are being asked to be 'really careful' with water use at tea time and over the course of the weekend. While your supply may not be affected, a spike in demand on the network can lead to more vulnerable people - such as elderly people or parents preparing bottles for infants - having problems.

A spokesman for Severn Trent said: "We’re really sorry to those customers who were affected in Rugby last night as demand for water spiked during the evening.

"Our engineers have been working hard to get extra water into the network so that supplies could return to normal.

"Everyone is currently on supply and now we’re asking customers to be really careful with their water use ahead of tonight’s high demand period at tea-time and the hot weather that’s expected over the weekend.

"We’re also encouraging people to be neighbourly and use only the water they need so that we can help keep supplies going in their local communities.

"We're producing 300 million litres more water every day to help meet demand and we need customers to do their bit too.

"We’re specifically asking people to:

1. Put their garden sprinklers away – a sprinkler can use as much as 1,000 litres of drinking water in just one hour – which is more water than a family of four would normally use in a whole day.

2. Take a shower rather than a bath - It uses 40 litres less water and it’s quicker, which means you can get back out and enjoy the sunshine.

3. Avoid washing their cars, but if they have to, use a bucket and sponge rather than a hose. If you clean your car for 30 minutes you’ll use 50 times less water with a bucket instead of a hose."