Stephen Fenton

Yorkshire, starting on Friday 11 July, a temporary use ban (TUB), which is a restriction on the use of hosepipes, will come into effect. This will help our region’s reservoir levels recover and protect Yorkshire's water resources throughout the summer months, following one of the driest springs on record and the region being in drought. We've tried everything possible to avoid these restrictions, and despite our customers' help to save water where they can and our efforts to manage water resources, including adding an extra 100 people to our leakage team and upgrading our infrastructure to reduce leaks and bursts, the dry weather and warmer-than-usual temperatures have increased demand. We have supplied an additional 4.3 billion litres of water between April and June compared to a typical year - that's enough to supply Leeds for five weeks. This has left our reservoirs more depleted than expected and lower than average for this time of year. As a result, we’re kindly asking everyone to please put their hosepipes away for a bit. We understand you may have some questions about the restrictions. You can find detailed FAQs, including activities covered by the hosepipe restrictions and who would be exempt from it, on our website at yorkshirewater.com/hosepipes, or watch the video below to see how this might affect you. The restrictions will be in place until the region has seen significant rainfall to bring reservoirs and groundwater stocks back to where they need to be. This may last into the winter months, but rest assured, we will lift it as soon as we are able to. We’re really grateful to everyone who has been saving water where they can this year, and we kindly ask that you please continue to do so to help ensure there’s enough water for everyone in Yorkshire this summer and beyond. Thank you for your understanding. 💙