By DAVE TOOMER NORTH West Water has praised its customers for their efforts to save water during the drought.

But there is still no end in sight yet to the hosepipe ban imposed last summer at the height of the heatwave.

Heavy rain at the end of last month has helped replenish reservoirs in Bolton and Rivington which had hit an all time low, but they are still less than half full.

Stocks in Bolton reservoirs currently stand at 41 per cent capacity and at Rivington they are 36 per cent. A spokeswoman for North West Water said it would be premature to lift the hosepipe ban.

She said: "We feel it would be unwise to lift the ban now only to impose it again later if there was another hot spell. Things have improved a lot, but we are not out of the woods yet."

Rainfall was heavier than usual at the end of June but the region had only 65 per cent of anticipated long term rainfall.

North West Water say their drought measures should secure an additional 155 million litres of water a day this summer - 50 million litres more than originally planned and enough to meet the daily needs of more than one million customers.

The extra supplies are the result of a number of projects the company is carrying out around the region as part of its £85 million investment to beat the drought. North West Water's General Manager for Water Supply, Peter Birtwistle commented: "As a result of the measure we have take and thanks to the continued co-operation of our customers in saving water, the situation is now looking much more promising.

"We are particularly grateful for our customers' help in identifying leaks.

"We are now saving 70 million litres a day as a result of increased detection and repair of leaks. As a result of these improvements and our customers' efforts in saving water, demand is currently running at ten per cent less than this time last year."

Current water restrictions forbid the use of hosepipes or garden sprinklers. Customers may use a watering can or a bucket of water for watering the garden or washing the car.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.