Football fans across the Severn Trent region helped customers to gulp their way through an extra 1.54 million litres of water during England’s dramatic World Cup win against Mexico.

Cups of tea (or possibly strong coffees) and toilet flushing helped push usage up by an extra 860 litres a second at half time and more than 1,350 litres a second as the final whistle blew.

Engineers and technical teams on duty as usual 24/7 maintained supplies as water use surged well above normal levels for the early hours of a Monday morning.

Demand rose between 2am and 4am with the taps opening most notably at half time and again at full-time as football fans stayed up for the crucial game.

As the nation goes into its third heatwave of 2026, Severn Trent teams are now preparing to meet demand for England’s next World Cup challenge – Norway, which kicks off at 10pm on Saturday (July 11).

Severn Trent Network Operations Lead Howard Perry said: “It’s been fascinating to see through our water use that so many of us stayed up to watch the early morning game at Mexico’s Azteca Stadium.

“Demand for water at that time on a Monday morning is usually at its lowest but we experienced much higher than usual demand with two clear spikes – at half-time and immediately after full-time.

“I would like to thank all Severn Trent team working through the night and every day of the year to help keep the taps running during such peaks in demands.”