No, temperatures in London will not hit 30 degrees this week – but there’s an extra 450m litres of water on standby
Londoners will avoid sweltering in 30 degree heat this week, the Met office has confirmed – though temperatures will reach a maximum of 28 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The mercury won’t rise above the peak we experienced last month, when the UK basked in the hottest day of the year on 19 July, with the capital roasting in a 33-degree heatwave.
Meanwhile, Thames Water has confirmed it will be “ready to put an extra 450m litres of water a day into its network during a heatwave” – or the equivalent of 900,000 paddling pools.
According to the company, water consumption increases by 14 per cent on hotter days, as customers beat the heat by taking extra showers and drinking more water.
Mark Jenner, head of operations systems at Thames Water said: “We have a team of specialists who weather-watch throughout the year and use their years of experience to estimate how much water our customers will use during a hot spell”
On a normal day Thames Water puts 2,100 megalitres (a megalitre is a million litres) into London’s water supply.
However on hotter days it puts in around 2,400 megalitres into the capital, and sends 700 megalitres to the rest of its region.
“In some places demand for water in the evening nearly triples, so it’s up to us to do the maths, put more water through our treatment works and get that extra water into supply.”