<h2>Agreement made to transfer 15 million litres of water everyday to help Southern Water customers in Hampshire</h2>
The Chief Executives of Portsmouth Water and Southern Water have today signed a long-term agreement allowing a transfer of water from Portsmouth Water’s River Itchen Treatment Works to Southern Water to help its customers in Southampton.

The daily volume of 15 million litres is enough to supply 100,000 customers each day. Portsmouth Water's River Itchen abstraction is situated on the lower tidal reaches of the Itchen. From an environmental perspective, it is preferable to take water at this point rather than further upstream. The volumes supplied under this agreement are within the terms of Portsmouth Water's existing abstraction license.

Bob Taylor CEO of Portsmouth Water said, “We are very pleased to be able to expand our emerging role of being a water supplier to the wider South East region. This was proposed in our last Water Resources Management Plan and we are pleased that the pumping station is in place to support this summer’s peak demand period. This supply is in addition to an existing bulk supply we have provided to Southern Water since 2004 into their Sussex area.

Southern Water CEO, Ian McAulay, commented, “We're delighted to be working with Portsmouth Water to help address the shortfall we'll experience as a result of being able to abstract less water from the rivers Test and Itchen. We're committed to providing our customers with the best possible service while protecting the natural environment around us and so we're investing £800million over the next decade and £2.4 million in the coming year in tackling leakage, to ensure we continue to do this."