Households in parts of Friesland, Overijssel and Flevoland have been warned that they may experience lower water pressure than normal as the drought continues.

The long, hot spell has lead to a 45% increase in demand for water in parts of the provinces, water board Vitens said on Tuesday. This in turn is reducing pressure, which will be noticeable when people shower, the water board said.

Vitens is also urging customers to conserve water as much as possible by not washing their car and watering the garden and taking shorter showers.

The ongoing drought, which is set to continue to at least the end of the month, may well be the worst on record, weather forecasters say. The previous record dates from 1976.

Water boards across the country have warned that water levels in the big rivers are dropping and farmers have been banned from taking water from ditches for their crops.

Popular swimming lakes are also being monitored for signs of botulism and blue-green algae booms. The website zwemwater.nl already includes several warnings.

The Stichtse Rijnlandsen water board is keeping five areas of dyke wet after they began forming cracks, which can weaken the water defence permanently.

Weather

Meanwhile, claims by one Dutch weather website on Monday that there is a slight chance the temperature could reach up to 42 degrees next week have been dismissed by other weather forecasters.

The KNMI weather bureau says the good weather will continue into next week and there is a 70% chance it will remain dry and sunny up to the end of July. However temperatures will reach ‘far above’ seasonable norms next week, the KNMI said.

There may be some slight showers inland on Tuesday evening and next weekend, the KNMI said.

Despite the long spell of dry, bright weather the Netherlands has not yet had an official heatwave this year, defined as five consecutive days above 25C including three of more than 30C, as measured at the KNMI’s weather station at De Bilt near Hilversum. The last recorded heatwave was in June 2015.