Exception uses 15,000 litres of water per hour in its manufacturing process and The company has organized for water to be delivered via tankers from Hull which around 300km away, with a consignment arriving every three hours, in order for production to continue.

"These are testing times for all of us in the Midlands, be it as a consumer or from a business perspective. At Exception, we use a lot of water in the production of our printed circuit boards and we know that if we continued using mains water, we would put even greater strain on the region's water supply. By taking the decision we did, we've probably given Tewkesbury an extra 24 hours of water," said Gordon Holden, managing director of Exception PCB.

The company hopes to cut its water usage figure to 7500 litres per hour over the next few days.