A campaign to encourage Hitchin residents to save water has been declared a huge success, with a "remarkable" one billion litres saved so far.

SOS: Save Our Streams was initiated last year by Affinity Water - which supplies water to 3.6 million people across South East England, including those living in Hitchin.

Statistics showed that Hitchin residents were using 4.4 percent more water per person per day than the national average, and this was endangering chalk streams that need to be preserved.

But nine months after the campaign began, Affinity Water has reported a huge improvement.

Interim head of demand management at Affinity Water Ed Barnes said; “We have been ambitious from the outset with ‘SOS’. We pushed boundaries to find out what is possible and have not been constrained by the industry’s expectation of what can and cannot be done.

"Our remit to ‘be brave and bold’ has steered us throughout the campaign.

“Results from recent reporting shows that a remarkable one billion litres of water were saved across July and August 2021, which is a true testament to the team that devised and delivered the campaign."

There are only 200 chalk streams in the world, and around 10 percent of these are in Herts, including Oughtonhead and the River Hiz in Hitchin.

Over-consumption of water risks these streams drying up, which would seriously harm local wildlife ecosystems.

Hitchin residents may remember the appearance of ‘Tubitha’ in June last year, an enormous bathtub that dominated Market Place and brought attention to water wasting tendencies.

The efforts of local people have paid off – according to Affinity Water nearly 75 percent of people that came across the campaign said it has caused them to take some form of action to cut their water-wasting habits.

A comparison of statistics between August 2020 and August 2021 also showed that 20.25 million litres of water a day were saved exclusively through campaign activity.

Affinity Water is planning a second phase of SOS, which will launch this summer. If you would like to know your own water usage statistics and to receive advice on how to cut your consumption, visit saveourstreams.co.uk.