As bleary-eyed supporters across the Severn Trent region stayed up into the early hours to watch the Three Lions edge through the drama, water use shot up by a staggering 1.54 million litres.
In Nottinghamshire, fans apparently celebrated the World Cup match win in the most British way possible: by sticking the kettle on.
Water demand surged between 2am and 4am, with two major spikes catching engineers’ attention — one at half-time, when supporters dashed off for tea, coffee and a nervy loo break, and another when the final whistle blew and England’s fate was sealed.
At half-time, usage jumped by an extra 86 litres every second, before soaring to more than 166 litres a second at full-time as thousands simultaneously headed for taps, kettles and toilets.
While most of us were debating whether we could survive on three hours’ sleep, Severn Trent’s overnight teams were busy keeping supplies flowing as demand rocketed well beyond what you’d normally expect on a sleepy Monday morning.
And there may be no rest for the water network just yet.
With England now preparing to face Norway and another late-night kick-off looming on Saturday, Severn Trent is bracing itself for another nationwide rush on brews and bathroom breaks.
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Howard Perry, Severn Trent’s Network Operations Lead, said: “What a game.”
He added that demand is usually much steadier at that time of the morning, but England’s clash with Mexico created two unmistakable surges — one at half-time and another immediately after the final whistle.
