Teams from Severn Trent will be visiting customers in Cromford this week, offering free water butts to more than 600 properties.

The slow-drain water butts are being offered to customers who live in the DE4 area of Cromford completely free of charge and include professional installation at no cost.

Overall the company will be installing 8,000 water butts to customers across its operational area, with a focus on locations - such as Cromford – which can suffer from surface water drainage issues. This problem occurs when more rain falls than can soak away or exceeds the capacity of local sewers.

Matt Lewis from Severn Trent’s Spills Reduction Programme, said: “One result of climate change is that we’re seeing more periods of heavy rain alongside hotter, drier summers. People are also favouring more hard surfaces at home - like tarmac driveways and brick patios – which look great but can prevent water from soaking away into the ground.

“Having a water butt installed is a really simple step that people can take towards helping to prevent excess surface water entering the sewer system and causing overflow spills or flooding issues – and in the worst cases can lead to damage to peoples’ homes and the wider environment.”

River health enhancement is a key issue for Severn Trent, which last month announced that it would be spending £450 million to install new interventions - including stormwater storage tanks - at 900 sites across its operational area before the end of the year.

This programme – which is expected to reduce the need to use storm overflows by 20% a year – is part of Severn Trent's work in Derbyshire, with other projects including the recent improvements to Sudbury Wastewater Treatment Works and long-term investment over of £660 million to improve 460 overflows by 2050.

Some meteorologists are also predicting that despite the wet start to the year that we've seen so far, the temperature may start heating up as we move further into the summer and water butts can also help people to save money on their bills.

Matt continued: “While it’s been a showery start to the year, some meteorologists are forecasting that the temperature could take a turn, resulting in a sunnier summer.

“The great news is that water butts provide a fantastic source of water for the garden in the warmer weather without the need to resort to a hosepipe or sprinkler, which can use up to 1,000 litres of treated water every hour.

“This can have a positive impact on customers’ water bills and can help to make sure that there’s plenty of treated water available for everyone who needs it, if we see another scorching hot summer.”

Anyone who doesn't live in the catchment but would still like to get a water butt can find them at garden centers, on the internet, or at a discount via Get Water Fit.

For water saving tips and advice, click here or visit stwater.co.uk and search for Saving Water Made Simple.