This summer the normal British preoccupation with the poor weather has had to cease as we have enjoyed sweltering temperatures more akin to the Mediterranean. However, will the dry spell mean a ban for hose pipes and us all having to cut down on bath water.

Dave Morris, Severn Trent Water's head of customer relations, tells us of the work that has gone in to ensure the earth's most precious commodity will be plentiful as we bask in the summer sun, and our responsibility to do our bit to keep it that way.

WATER storage levels are normal for this time of year and despite the recent hot spell, customers can rest assured we've no plans for any sort of restrictions such as hosepipe bans.

The last ban was lifted seven years ago, a year after restrictions were introduced following the 1995 drought.

So you might well ask, particularly in light of the recent hot weather, what exactly has Severn Trent Water been doing to ensure there isn't another one?

Well, firstly, we've been spending a lot of time and money to make sure we can provide the water our customers need throughout the year.

We have a network of water pipes stretching for more than 28,750 miles - enough to go around the world!

These pipes supply 113 million gallons of drinking water everyday to more than seven million people across the Midlands.

Some leakage from such a complex system is always inevitable, but still we have managed to cut leakage by 25 per cent since 1995.

Hundreds of millions of pounds have been invested alongside a mammoth effort from our leak repair teams.

We fix leaks now on average within two days - but often within hours of them being reported to us.

We also now offer a free repair scheme for customers' private supply pipes.

We've recently started to use text technology too, similar to messaging on mobile phones, to help track leaks.

Millions of pounds have been invested to help install hi-tech telecoms monitoring onto the pipes.

The units sit on the meters monitoring the water flow and send daily text messages to a central computer flagging up any leaks on the system.

Although we believe we're winning the battle with leakage, we are determined to continue those efforts to drive leakage down even further and make sure that customers continue to have water whenever they need it.

While we've been doing our bit to save water, so have our customers, and together we have made a difference in making sure we have enough water to see us through another long hot summer.

Our lifestyles have changed dramatically over the past 50 years, not least in the amount of water we all use in our everyday lives. Washing machines, dishwashers, modern bathrooms, the growing interest in DIY and gardening - all of these factors have contributed to a huge increase in the amount of water we use.

Today, an average every person uses around seven gallons of water a day, where as our grandparents had to make do with just a gallon a day, and recent predictions indicate that consumption is set to rise by an additional 5.6 billion gallons by 2020.

Considering the massive increases in the amount of water we use it's worth remembering some of the little things everyone can do to save a bit - some, of which our customers have already taken on board.

These simple things include fixing dripping taps, turning the taps off while brushing your teeth, taking a shower instead of a bath and using a watering can for your plants rather than a hose pipe or sprinkler.

A shower uses approximately one quarter of the water used in a bath and a sprinkler uses the same amount of water in just an hour as a family of four uses in two days.

Why not try using your old washing up, water, as long as it's not too greasy, to water your plants - it saves water and it fends off greenfly too!

So as you can see, following some of these simple steps to save water can quite literally save thousands of litres of water.

Understandably, during the hot weather families will use a lot more water and, of course, we want you to be able to use and enjoy it however you want. But we're asking people to be sensible and to use their water wisely.

During an early hot spell last month, we saw abnormally high levels of overnight usage which indicated that people were leaving sprinklers running through the night.

This led to difficulties as local storage reservoirs, which normally refill over night, were reduced instead ahead of the day's demands.

Although customers are welcome to use a sprinkler if they wish to, it's also only fair that customers that do "spray fair" and have a water meter fitted.

It's becoming increasingly important that we preserve our natural environment for future generations.

Scientists are predicting that climate change could lead to huge changes in our weather patterns, including the prospect of longer, hotter and drier summers.

With this in mind, it's important that we all play our part in looking after our water.

There are more hints on saving water available by visiting www.stwater.co.uk