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England may be enjoying more success than Germany when it comes to football, but we’re still lagging behind them at saving water.

As Doug Clarke, Severn Trent’s water efficiency expert, confirmed: “We’re all enjoying the World Cup and how well England are doing, and it makes a nice change to have outperformed Germany! But when it comes to saving water, we could still learn a thing or two from them and others.

“In England our average water usage per person per day is 140 litres. This compares to Germany where it’s 120 litres. England’s latest World Cup opponents Belgium are even more efficient, using only 107 litres a day."

With the country still basking in the hottest June for 40 years, the demand for water has increased massively. Severn Trent has ramped up its production and has already put an extra 300 million litres of water into supply, but whilst there is plenty of raw water in their reservoirs, customers are using treated water the second it is pumped into the pipes.

As a result, Severn Trent is asking its customers to consider how they’re using their water.

Doug continues: “We need people to think about how they’re using water – using a sprinkler might green up your lawn but that water would be better used for drinking or washing.

“We’re continuing to produce as much water as we can but our pipes can only carry so much. And that’s why we just need people to think long and hard about their water usage while this hot weather continues. If every Severn Trent customer could save 30 litres of water a day it would be a massive help – and mean we were better than the Germans at water saving as well as football!”

With the hot weather set to continue in to next week, Severn Trent is giving people some top tips to help prioritise their water usage:

•    Put your garden sprinkler away – a sprinkler can use as much as 1,000 litres of drinking water in just one hour – which is more water than a family of four would normally use in a whole day;

•    Take a shower rather than a bath - it uses 40 fewer litres of water and it’s quicker, which means you can get back to watching the football!

•    Avoid washing your car, but if you have to, use a bucket and sponge rather than a hose. If you clean your car for 30 minutes you’ll use 50 times less water with a bucket instead of a hose.

A full list of handy tips is available at https://www.stwater.co.uk/my-supply/hot-weather-tips/ and you can get water saving devices at www.stwater.co.uk/savewater.