Thames Water is preparing the UK’s only desalination plant to restart operations later this year – but it will not be ready until the winter, long after the current drought is likely to have passed.
The utility company said that it was hoping to start operating its plant in Beckton, east London, “by the end of the year”, in order to help build up reservoir supplies over the winter for next summer.
Water companies across the UK have imposed hosepipe bans as they try to conserve supplies, with much of the country enduring a fifth heatwave that is worsening drought conditions.
The Beckton plant has only ever run five times, providing just 7.2bn litres of drinking water or about seven days’ worth of the capital’s daily demand over 15 years.
