"Too many people are using the supply at the same time” - anger at water pressure issues in Cranfield

Anglian Water is currently investigating the issue, which residents claim is a regular occurrence, and posted on its website that: "The team have found that this is being caused by lots of customers in your area all using water at the same time."

The water company says it is working to fix the issue – but a disgruntled resident has said he feels the issue is down to poor planning.

“It’s the same story every morning, the pressure drops around 7am when everyone’s getting up, and now they’re telling us this latest issue is because we’re all using water at the same time?” he said.

“That’s not an excuse, it’s poor planning. What happens when the extra 180 new homes are built - or when Universal Studios opens and thousands more people flood into the area?

“If Anglian Water can’t cope now, how on earth are they going to manage then?”

According to a map on Anglian Water’s website, the affected area covers Cranfield, including the university and airport, plus Bourne End and Gossard’s Green.

Anglian Water have today issued an appeal to customers to “use a little less” after reporting that this week they had seen a 30 per cent increase in the amount of water used.

Ian Rule, director of water services for the company said: “On a normal day, we supply roughly 1.1 billion litres of top-quality drinking water to our 4.3 million customers across the East of England, but with temperatures predicted to climb we know we’ll exceed this by several hundreds of millions of litres a day as long as the hot weather is here, which will be a new record for this early in the summer.

“When the weather heats up, the demand for water significantly increases which puts added pressure on the water network.

“When everyone tries to draw on the water supply at the same time water pressure can dip, so customers may notice water can’t flow from their taps as freely as usual.

“We have an army of engineers working hard already to ensure everything is in the best shape possible before the hottest weather hits.

“While our water supplies are currently in relatively good health across the region, with reservoirs almost 90 per cent full and groundwater levels in a good position for the summer, we can’t afford to be reckless with the supplies we have available - which is why we’re asking everyone to use a ‘little less’ wherever they can, so we can meet the demand and keep taps running for everyone.”

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