Yorkshire Water has urged its customers to use water “wisely” and said “temporary usage restrictions are a possibility” without “significant rainfall soon”.
The company said reservoir levels fell by 2.5 per cent over the last week to 55.8 per cent, significantly below the average of 81.9 per cent for this time of year.
Yorkshire’s reservoir stocks have been declining since late January due to the historic dry spring and England’s warmest June on record.
Water usage almost reached 1.5 billion litres on Monday, June 30, which is 200 million litres above Yorkshire Water’s typical daily production, the company said.
The Environment Agency announced on Thursday, June 12, that Yorkshire had entered into a drought due to the low rainfall, river levels, and groundwater in the region.
Dave Kaye, director of water at Yorkshire Water, said: “The heat and dry weather over the last week have further impacted our reservoir levels.
“There is some light and localised rain around today [Wednesday, July 2] and forecast for the rest of the week, but without significant rainfall soon, temporary usage restrictions are a possibility.
“We know that warm weather can lead to an increase in water usage, but we are urging customers to continue using water wisely.
“We’re incredibly grateful to those customers who have been making efforts to save water over the last few months.”
Yorkshire Water and Environment Agency ‘working hard to manage our resources’
Mr Kaye said Yorkshire Water is “working closely” with the Environment Agency and “working hard to manage our resources, moving water around the region to areas that need it the most”.
“We have 100 additional colleagues tackling leakage and ask that customers continue to report leaks to us so that we can repair them as soon as possible,” he added.
Water Minister Emma Hardy has said she is “doing everything in my power to hold Yorkshire Water to account to ensure we have the regular supply of water that is needed across the region”.
“I am receiving regular updates from the Environment Agency,” she said.
Recommended reading:
Extreme heat is becoming more frequent and intense because of climate change, and experts say the health impacts of heat are severely underestimated.
They warn that the UK is unprepared for the rising risk of extremely hot conditions that climate change is bringing – especially earlier in the summer, when people are less acclimatised to coping with it.
Amy Doherty, Met Office climate scientist, said: “Our Met Office climate projections indicate that hot spells will become more frequent in our future climate, particularly over the south-east of the UK.
“Temperatures are projected to rise in all seasons, but the heat would be most intense in summer.”
