NORTHUMBRIA Water has said it is "not anticipating the need for any restrictions this summer" - despite the county seeing below-average rainfall recently.

It comes amid extreme weather conditions across the UK.

The heat, which has seen parts of the country record temperatures hotter than the Bahamas, has led to droughts being declared and wildfires across the region.

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A spokeswoman for Northumbria Water said: "We are continuing to experience periods of high demand for water and this means that our reservoir levels are lower than they would normally be at this point in the year.

“We are not anticipating the need for any restrictions this summer and as an environmentally-responsible company, we are monitoring and carefully managing the resources we take from the environment.

“To help with this, we are encouraging our customers to use water wisely and minimise usage where they can.

“Our teams are working hard to make sure that our reservoirs can recover over the autumn period and this will help us to ensure that we can keep the water flowing for customers throughout winter and into next year."

Northumbrian Water is working with the Environment Agency and other partners and in order to maintain the health of the region’s rivers, the Kielder Transfer Scheme has started – which will be moving around 30 million litres of water per day from Kielder reservoir into the River Wear.

The transfer, which started on August 11, was the first time a Tyne-Wear transfer has been made in 16 years.

It comes as the UK experiences the driest spring and early summer since 1996 and demand for water locally has increased by 20 per cent.