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Yorkshire Water Imposes Hosepipe Ban

Last week (July 2nd), utility company Yorkshire Water confirmed that reservoir levels have continued to drop amid the current heatwave, falling by 2.5 per cent to 55.8 per cent, which is significantly below the 81.9 per cent average for this time of year.

In fact, reservoir stocks have been falling since late January and the warm weather we’ve seen since the start of the year has compounded the lack of rainfall, with water usage increasing in line with the rise in temperatures.

On June 30th, for example, daily usage nearly hit 1.5 billion litres, which is 200 million litres above typical daily production for the catchment area.

On June 12th, it was announced that Yorkshire was officially in drought, due to low rainfall, low river levels and low regional groundwater… and now Yorkshire Water has announced that it will be moving into the next stage of its drought plan and introducing temporary restrictions on hosepipe use from July 11th.

The aim here is to reduce demand further, protect reservoir stocks and ensure that the supplier is able to apply for permit variations in order to operate reservoirs and river abstractions differently.

With a warm summer still ahead of us, the utility company is having to deal with higher demand for water across the region, supplying an extra 4.3 billion litres of water between April and June compared to a more typical year.

Water resources have been carefully managed for several months, with supplies moved via a region-wide grid system to help balance stocks, as well as prioritising water leak detection and repair. Customers have also been encouraged to reduce consumption through the use of rainwater harvesting systems and by spending less time in the shower.

Discussing this latest move, Dave Kaye – director of water – said: “Introducing these restrictions is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’ve been doing everything we can to avoid having to put them in place.

“Our region experienced an extremely dry spring, which resulted in the region entering drought status in June. Usually, spring is a time when our groundwater sources and reservoirs continue to be topped up by changeable weather but this has not been the case in 2025, with our reservoir stocks falling since the last week of January.

“Of course, we have seen a few periods of changeable weather more recently, which helped slightly with the water resources picture. But these have been followed by constant high temperatures and more dry weather, which causes increased water usage.”

How can businesses help?

While it’s essential to focus on sustainable water management to protect the natural environment and ensure that there’s sufficient potable drinking water to sustain human life, it’s also important to note that industries of all kinds are heavily reliant on water to remain operational.

As such, there’s a significant financial case to be made for businesses to go full steam ahead with water conservation strategies in order to build resilience into their systems and ensure that they can continue to operate as they would normally even in the face of severe service disruption.

Luckily, you’ll find that there are many ways in which you can improve the water footprint of your business – and the first step to take is to have a water audit of your site carried out.

This will show you how and where you use water, allowing you to identify the most effective water-saving solutions, adjusting these over time as the needs of your business change.

Potential solutions that may be appropriate include switching water supplier, rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse and recycling, automated meter reading and water leak detection/repair.

The added benefit of investigating these options is that you’ll not only safeguard water resources for future generations but you’ll also save your business money at the same time… yet another reason to look into it.

For example, the water audit will include a review of water bills past and present, and it’s possible to obtain refunds of thousands of pounds for historical overcharging by your water supplier.

If you’d like to find out more about such services and how you could benefit, get in touch with the H2o Building Services team today.