All eyes on weather as reservoirs still half empty

Huge areas of England remain under water restrictions after a hot, dry summer.

Yorkshire is one of the few areas to have escaped a hosepipe ban - so far.

Reservoirs here were full as we headed into the important spring and summer seasons following a wet winter - which appears to have been Yorkshire's saving grace.

But spring and summer have been dry and, significantly, September has also been drier than average,which has resulted in reservoirs being less than half full, well below where they should be for this time of year.

With demand for water waning and evaporation at reservoirs less of an issue in autumn, it is very unlikely Yorkshire Water - which admits summer was "challenging" - would impose restrictions at this late stage.

Without a doubt, though, they will have one eye on next year and be hoping autumn and winter are wet in order to replenish reservoirs and ground water levels, preventing potential problems next summer for their five million customers.

Andy Shaw, the company's head of water production, treatment and energy, made clear there were no current plans to impose a late ban, but he hinted this could change if it "remains considerably dry".

Appealing to customers to play their part in protecting supplies, he said: "We are expecting a drier spell to end September, so it is important people continue to take steps to review their water usage and make any changes to water use where they can."

Last week, levels rose for the first time since June following recent rainfall - but not by enough.

Across Yorkshire, reservoirs are at 47.6% capacity - significantly below the 68.7% average for this point of the year.

This time last year, when the region was still under a hosepipe ban following the driest spring in more than 100 years, they were at 45.6%.

Shaw credited his team for their work in avoiding having to impose restrictions.

"Our teams have worked around the clock to manage the water supply to ensure all our customers have the water they need, without the need for any usage restrictions.

"Our reservoir stocks and the Hull aquifer remain some way short of where they should be at this time of year and will need rainfall above long-term average to recover to where we need them to be going into 2027."

The Hull aquifer supplies large parts of North and East Yorkshire.

By virtue of the fact a hosepipe ban was avoided this summer, it would appear Yorkshire Water has learned important lessons from last year.

Since the drought and hosepipe ban of 2025, Yorkshire Water said capacity had been increased at its new service reservoirs.

It has also made water treatment works more efficient and laid almost 300km (186 miles) of new water mains to reduce leaks.

In addition, nearly 500,000 smart meters had been fitted to detect leaks, it said.

Shaw admitted Yorkshire Water had "much more to do to improve and deliver the service customers expect".

He added: "We're committed to doing that as part of our largest ever upgrade of our network by 2030."

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