One month into hosepipe ban in Yorkshire and reservoir levels still 'below average'
Despite a cooler end of July and start of August, reservoir levels are still dropping
Last updated 11th Aug 2025
Yorkshire Water said reservoir stocks dropped by 2.7% last week, due to rivers being low which means the company has not been able to abstract as much water from them as they normally would.
This means they have had to rely on water from reservoirs to compensate.
Meanwhile, river levels have improved so river abstractions are increasing in accordance with permits.
Although Yorkshire did see some rainfall recently, the water company say February through to July has been exceptionally warm and dry so sustained rainfall is needed to make its way into reservoirs and recharge them.
Dave Kaye, director of water at Yorkshire Water, said: “Gardens were grateful for the rainfall over the last couple of days, despite the intermittent downpours as Storm Floris passed over the region, reservoir levels fell by 2.7% over the last seven days.
"Total stocks dropped to 44.7%, well below the average of 75.9% for this time of year, as we continue to distribute over 1.2 billion litres of water every day.
“Customers are the real powerhouse here and we’d like to thank those who put away their hosepipes to help save water where they can in what has been an extremely dry 2025. Since restrictions were put in place, we've seen a 10% reduction in domestic water use which is really helping to reduce the strain on our reservoirs.
“We are doing our bit as our teams continue to work around the clock to find and fix leaks as quickly as they can. We’d like to thank our customers for their vigilance in spotting and reporting leaks when they see them.”
This week is due to bring warm weather, with highs of 28 degrees Celsius expected across the region.