Water firm bans tankers from transporting water for billionaire Trump ally's private lake
Southern Water has hit out at the businessman over a constant stream of water tankers transporting water to the Wiltshire address - despite a domestic hosepipe ban
A water firm in the south of England has warned tanker companies against delivering its water to a US billionaire's private Wiltshire estate.
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Southern Water made the warning following complaints from locals that Conholt Park, his residence located between Wiltshire and Hampshire, was receiving deliveries of vast quantities of water.
It comes despite an ongoing drought which has left many residents in the area facing a domestic hosepipe ban.
Stephen Schwarzman, the founder of financial group Blackstone, has been accused of privately shipping in gallons of water to pump into a newly-excavated lake, which was also used to water nearby hedges and trees.
Residents captured footage of tankers arriving day and night at US billionaire Steve Schwarzman’s 2,500-acre estate – a man dubbed one of the world's richest men and a prominent financial backer of US President Donald Trump.
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A spokesperson for Mr Schwarzman confirmed that a limited amount of the water transported had been used to help fill his new lake.
However, they outlined the water had been "sourced through licenced providers responsible for the lawful and proper extraction and delivery".
They added that an advanced irrigation system is now being used to fill the lake.
Despite the ban, tankers have legally been allowed to transport water from Hampshire under a specific licence that allows water to be used for 'construction' work, avoiding the domestic hosepipe ban.
The dodging of the drought order has forced Southern water to speak out.
“I’m appalled by this use of water,” said Southern’s Tim McMahon.
“It may not fall within hosepipe ban restrictions, but it’s certainly not in the spirit of the incredible and ongoing community effort to save water across the county.
“As soon as we were aware we immediately investigated and banned tankers from abstracting from these standpipes.
"We’re also having robust conversations with those using this water and the companies working on their behalf.
“While this disappointing occurrence is highly unusual and rare, I would like to reassure customers that I am leading a thorough review into how this happened, and how we can tighten up both our internal monitoring processes and any legal loopholes so that this cannot happen again.”