Boss warning of water ban has 40ft swimming pool at his £3m home

Is this an ‘essential’ use? Boss of utility company which warned customers they could face a ban for wasting water boasts 40ft swimming pool at his £3m home

• Utility company Wessex Water has warned it may ban ‘non-essential’ water use
• Company boss Colin Skellett has a 40ft swimming pool at his £3 million home
• The company loses 70 million litres of water a day due to faulty infrastructure.

The boss of Wessex Water, which has warned of a ban on ‘non-essential’ water use, has a 40ft swimming pool at his £3 million home.

Colin Skellett, 77, earns £1 million a year for running a water company that loses 70 million litres of water a day due to faulty infrastructure.

As it struggles to stop the leaks, it is telling customers to watch their usage – even with advice on pools.

Colin Skellett, the boss of Wessex Water, which has warned of a ban on ‘non-essential’ water use, has a 40ft swimming pool at his £3million home

In a ‘water saving’ section of the website, it says: ‘Did you know? An average sized paddling pool needs around 200 litres to fill it up – that’s more than an average person normally uses in one day.’

It doesn’t say how much a swimming pool like Mr Skellett’s would take to fill. The advice adds: ‘Cover pools when they’re not in use to reduce evaporation … and reuse paddling pool water on your garden plants or lawn.

Water companies must publish drought plans to show how they will deal with extended dry weather and extreme heat, which the UK is now experiencing. Wessex Water recently updated theirs.

It says it will ban hosepikes and sprinklers in extended periods of dry weather, saying they must not be used for lawns, cars or swimming or paddling pools.

Married Mr Skellett, who is a grandfather, bought the house in a village outside Bath in 2007 for £1.65million. It is thought to be worth almost double that now.

Wessex Water, owned by Malaysia’s YTL Corporation, made profits of £150million to the year to April. Mr Skellett was paid £975,000 last year and £1.38million the year before.

Mr Skellett was cleared, in 2003 after a six month police probe, of taking a £1milloin bribe from YTL during the takeover process.

Married Mr Skellett, who is a grandfather, bought the house in a village outside Bath in 2007 for £1.65million. It is thought to be worth almost double that now

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