Update: Two-month deluge prompts chiefs to lift hosepipe ban

WATER chiefs will tomorrow lift the hosepipe ban hitting the county, the Ipswich Star can reveal.

Anglian Water will end restrictions after a deluge of rain over recent months, including the wettest April on record.

It comes after we exclusively revealed on Tuesday that sources close the utility giant were confident the ban would be lifted by the end of the month.

Paul Valleley, Anglian Water’s director of water services, said: “There’s no way we could have predicted it, but in some places we had three times the average rainfall in April.

“Crucially, it fell just within the traditional ‘recharge’ season - the time of the year when there is less competition for water from the environment, and much of what falls ends up in reservoirs and aquifers.

“Effectively, we had three months-worth of ‘winter rain’ in April. This was followed by a wet and cool May and June.

“The persistent rain and low temperatures have extended the recharge season into the early summer, and this has made all the difference.”

Dr Dan Poulter, MP for north Ipswich and central Suffolk, said reservoirs were refilled and that he was optimistic restrictions would be lifted.

The lifting of the ban follows a report by the Environment Agency which said the downpours over the last two months had significantly reduced the risks of serious drought and the need for widespread water restrictions throughout the summer.

A number of water companies elsewhere in the country have already lifted hosepipe bans after drought status was removed in Wiltshire, the Midlands and parts of Yorkshire.