Yorkshire Water has issued a statement after enforcing a hosepipe ban across the entire county.

Yorkshire Water's hosepipe ban started on Friday, July 11, during the ongoing heatwave. Restrictions will remain in place until depleted reservoirs return to normal levels. The water company said there was an 'alarming' drought which led to a increasingly 'low stocks' of water

Following the ban, water usage dropped by 80-100 million litres compared to the previous heatwaves in June – the equivalent to Hull’s daily supply. Usage hit 1.39 billion litres on Saturday (12 July) and 1.37 billion litres on Sunday (13 July) as temperatures soared in the region, compared to 1.47 billion litres during the heatwaves of on June 20 and June 30.

Dave Kaye, director of water, said: “We understand the hosepipe restrictions are frustrating, but we’d like to thank customers who have put down the hosepipes over what was an extremely hot weekend. Usage decreased significantly compared to the previous heatwave.

“It’s important we all continue to do out bit to protect resources further into the summer and with some rainfall predicted in the next few days it’s a good time to install a water butt and collect grey water that can be used on gardens through the summer.”

As well as reduced demand, there has been a 52% increase in leaks reported by customers over the last two weeks. More than 330 leaks are fixed per week, and Yorkshire Water teams are out and about 24/7 throughout heatwave completing repairs to save as much water as possible.

Mr Kaye added: “We’d also like to thank customers who are reporting leaks to us. Taking the time to report leaks and not walking past them is vital. It helps us, particularly with smaller leaks, to investigate quickly and get the repair completed as soon as we can. Leaks with blue markings around them have been investigated and are awaiting repair, which we try to do as quickly as possible, prioritising the most severe or those impacting customer supplies.

“Every leak is different and there are factors that mean we can’t always repair them as quickly as we would like. Repairs in the road require permission from local authorities and there is also the possibility of other utilities in the ground in the repair area, which requires additional time.

"The removal of road furniture and street lighting, the need to shut off water supplies for a short time which needs to be carefully planned, and customers notified, as well as the possible traffic implications can all cause delays too, but we are committed to fixing leaks as quickly as we can.

“We’re all in this together – the vast majority of our colleagues are customers too - and we’re all doing our bit at home and in the workplace to save water.”

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