Slow Reservoir Recovery Prompts Call for Islanders to Cut Water Use

Jersey’s reservoir levels have inched upward after falling to 57% capacity last month, but the Island’s water supplier is urging residents to remain mindful of their consumption as dry weather continues to limit recovery.

Jersey Water’s head of water resilience and emergency planning, Mark Bowden, said overall storage has now crept up to 63% — though the Island is consuming water at nearly the same rate it’s being replenished. That figure includes around five million litres a day produced by the desalination plant, which has been operating since earlier this year.

“We’ve had some rain through November, but autumn remains much drier than average,” Bowden explained.

He previously cautioned that without “sufficient” rainfall before the end of the year, Jersey could face a challenging start to 2026. Reservoirs are typically refilled by early January, but Bowden said this target now appears unlikely unless the Island experiences “an extremely wet November and December”.

Asked whether Islanders should continue to moderate their usage, Bowden stressed that water awareness is always important.

“In Jersey, we have a very finite resource. Our storage capacity is small relative to our population,” he said. “Even with the desalination plant running, a dry year still presents a risk to our supplies.”

Bowden encouraged Islanders to adopt “really small changes” — such as taking shorter showers or avoiding hose pipes — noting that minor adjustments across the community can significantly extend available supplies.

Despite the modest improvement in reservoir levels, Bowden said the utility was “not overly concerned at this stage”.

“We still have several months of winter ahead. We’d like to see reservoirs full by mid-spring, so it’s not panic-stations yet — but we are asking Islanders to stay aware of the situation.”