A water company says it has recorded its highest level of demand on record and called on customers to reduce their usage.

Severn Trent, which supplies more than eight million people in England and Wales – including 4.8m homes and businesses in the Midlands – said demand on Saturday outstripped previous records set during the 2022 drought and Covid pandemic.

The firm reported water use was “significantly higher” than normal, with demand elevated for longer each day and into the night during recent hot weather – the second heatwave of the summer.

Over the last few days, demand was at almost 2.4 billion litres, working out as an extra 400 million litres more than usual each day, Severn Trent said.

The volume was enough to provide water to two million people, or the equivalent of 700 million pints, the company added.

The firm partially put this down to more water being used for activities including watering gardens and filling paddling pools.

A spokesperson said: “Our teams are working around the clock – treating more water, moving supplies across the region and fixing leaks at record levels – but we need customers’ help too.

“There are no restrictions in place, and we want to keep it that way, and with no rain in the forecast, we’d love everyone’s support to help.”

Severn Trent said measures people could take to reduce their usage included:

“With a few small changes, together we can help keep water flowing this summer,” the spokesperson added.

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