Yorkshire Water will impose a hosepipe ban across the region on Friday (11 July) just as another heatwave peaks.
The ban, the first since August 2022, follows the driest and warmest spring on record in Yorkshire.
The Environment Agency officially declared a drought in Yorkshire last month and forecasters are predicting a warm summer.
The sustained hot weather has driven higher demand for water across the region, with Yorkshire Water supplying an additional 4.3 billion litres of water between April and June compared with a typical year.
This extra volume of water is enough to supply the city of Leeds for five weeks.
As a result, Yorkshire’s reservoirs are currently at 55.8%, which is 26.1% lower than they would normally be at this time of year.
Here’s what will be banned from Friday:
- Using a hosepipe to water a garden
- Using a hosepipe to clean private vehicles or boats
- Watering plants with a hosepipe on a domestic or other non-commercial premises
- Filling or maintaining a domestic swimming, paddling pool, hot tub or cold-water plunge pool with a hosepipe
- Using a hosepipe for domestic recreational use
- Filling or maintaining a domestic pond or ornamental fountain using a hosepipe
- Cleaning walls or windows of domestic premises using a hosepipe
- Cleaning paths or patios using a hosepipe
- Cleaning other artificial outdoor surfaces using a hosepipe.
People can still wash their car and water their gardens if they use tap water from a bucket or watering can; or use water that is not sourced from taps such as grey water, rainwater from a water butt, or a private borehole.
Businesses will be allowed to use a hosepipe if it is directly related to a commercial purpose. There are restrictions on using a hosepipe if not for those essential commercial needs – so using a hosepipe to clean a path outside a business property, for example, would not be allowed.
Blue badge holders, those on Yorkshire Water’s Priority Services Register or WaterSure tariff for medical reasons, are also excluded from the restrictions.
‘Action needed now’
Yorkshire Water says it has been moving water via a regionwide grid system to balance stocks.
A spokesperson said: “The company has been finding and fixing leaks 24/7, which has resulted in leakage being at its lowest ever level in Yorkshire.”
Yorkshire Water’s director of water, Dave Kaye, said: “We need to take action now to help conserve water and protect Yorkshire’s environment.
“That means from Friday this week, people across Yorkshire will need to stop using their hosepipes to water their gardens, wash their cars or for any other activities.
“Introducing these restrictions is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’ve been doing everything we can to avoid having to put them in place.
“Our region experienced an extremely dry spring, which resulted in the region entering drought status in June.
“Usually, spring is a time when our groundwater sources and reservoirs continue to be topped-up by changeable weather, but this has not been the case in 2025, with our reservoir stocks falling since the last week of January.
“Of course, we have seen a few periods of changeable weather more recently, which helped slightly with the water resources picture. But these have been followed by constant high temperatures and more dry weather, which causes increased water usage.
“We’re grateful to our customers, who have been saving water where they can this year already. It is really important that we all continue to do so.”
He said the restrictions are intended to make sure that there’s enough water “for the essential needs of people across the region this year and next, as well as making sure we’re able to protect our local environment.
But with more dry weather forecast in the coming weeks, stocks will continue to fall. And we are in for another heatwave, with temperatures peaking at 29°C on Friday in York and North Yorkshire.
Mr Kaye added: “Having restrictions in place also allows us to apply for drought permits from the Environment Agency, which means we can abstract more water from our rivers and reduce compensation flows out of our reservoirs so that we can continue to provide the water our customers rely on us for.
“The restrictions will come into effect on 11 July and 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 we will lift the usage restrictions as soon as we are able.”