Water companies have no plans to speed up the delivery of a second Cheddar reservoir despite the recent heatwaves.

The Cheddar Two project is being spearheaded by West Country Water and Environment (WCWE), an umbrella organisation bringing together Bournemouth Water, Bristol Water, the Environment Agency, South West Water and Wessex Water.

The first round of public consultation on the plans – which would see a second reservoir built south of the existing facility in Cheddar – concluded in early-October 2025, with a second round expected to be staged across Somerset some time before Christmas.

The water companies have confirmed that no effort is being made to speed up the new reservoir’s delivery – meaning Somerset could face further hosepipe bans until 2035 if meteorological trends continue.

The current ‘Cheddar One’ reservoir is fed by the Cheddar Yeo river and predominantly provides drinking water to around 500,000 homes north of the Mendip Hills, including Bristol, Bath and south Gloucestershire.

The planned ‘Cheddar Two’ reservoir, fed by the Cheddar Yeo and River Axe, will focus on transporting water to the south, primarily serving the Somerset Council area and small parts of the neighbouring counties.

To achieve this, a new pipeline will be needed to transport water from the reservoir to a service reservoir in North Petherton, making it available for Wessex Water customers in the wider Bridgwater area.

New pipelines will also be constructed east of the Quantock Hills, providing additional capacity for the likes of Kilve, Watchet and Williton which currently rely on water pumped from the Maundown treatment works near Wiveliscombe.

The new pipelines will all be built under the River Parrett, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, the Bristol to Exeter mainline railway and the M5 motorway.

WCWE said that the new reservoir could not be fast-tracked without vastly changing the current regulatory progress.