Businesses urged to save water as Devon continues to face drought
Businesses across Devon are being encouraged to reduce their water use, as South West Water continues to offer free water-saving measures and practical advice to help protect supplies following an exceptionally dry year.
The company’s water efficiency programme provides businesses with support to identify leaks, improve efficiency and install water-saving devices, with the aim of reducing consumption and cutting bills.
The region has experienced prolonged dry conditions throughout 2026. England recorded its warmest spring on record, followed by an exceptionally hot and dry summer. July was particularly dry, with England receiving only a small fraction of its average rainfall. On October 15, the Environment Agency declared severe drought in parts of Devon and other areas of the South West, after the driest April to September period in more than a century.
Although recent rainfall has brought some improvement, water resources remain under pressure. The Environment Agency has warned that some areas need at least 120 per cent of typical rainfall over the next six months to recover from drought conditions by spring.
Kim Williams, Director of Water Resources for South West Water, said: "Our business water efficiency programme is delivering practical results. By helping customers identify leaks, improve efficiency, offering water efficiency audits and install free water-saving devices, we're reducing water use and helping businesses and customers lower their bills at the same time.
“We work with both homes and businesses to help reduce water use. For businesses we have our efficiency visits, but we also have a grant and innovation fund that allows us to support investment in long-term water saving actions by businesses across our region.
“For households we deliver home efficiency visits as well as providing free water-saving products following a visit to the Get Water Fit online platform. During the visits we provide and install the devices. All customers whether visited or not can order water saving devices through Get Water Fit.
“We are currently also encouraging customers to identify if they have a leaky loo – that can waste up to 400 litres of water a day, and we are offering to repair this free of charge at the moment. We are currently finding that 11 per cent of the homes we are visiting have one or more leaking toilet.
"These savings continue every day after a visit takes place, which means the benefits are being felt long after the work has been completed.”
Since the start of the year, South West Water’s water efficiency team has completed 793 visits to businesses across the region, targeting those in areas most affected by drought since the summer.
More than 5,500 water-saving devices have been fitted, saving an estimated 275,000 litres of water every day. The team has also repaired more than 1,370 internal plumbing leaks, with estimated savings of over 100,000 litres a day.
Businesses can find out more about water efficiency visits and the grant and innovation fund through South West Water. Households can access advice and order free water-saving products through the Get Water Fit website.