Hosepipe ban to come into force from Friday across Yorkshire
Yorkshire has experienced both the driest and warmest spring on record this year with only 15cm of rainfall across the region between February and June
Last updated 8th Jul 2025
A hosepipe ban has been announced across Yorkshire, as the region has experienced both the driest and warmest spring on record this year with only 15cm of rainfall across the region between February and June, less than half what is expected in an average year.
The Environment Agency officially declared a drought in Yorkshire in June and forecasters are predicting a warm summer ahead.
"People across Yorkshire will need to stop using their hosepipes to water their gardens, wash their cars or for any other activities"
Yorkshire Water’s director of water, Dave Kaye, said: “We need to take action now to help conserve water and protect Yorkshire's environment."
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.
Yorkshire Water has been carefully managing water resources in the region for several months, moving water via a regionwide grid system to balance stocks.
They said how customers have been regularly updated on reservoir levels, the challenges of hot dry weather, and have been encouraged to reduce their water consumption through a variety of measures like using water butts to catch rainwater for use in the garden, or cutting down the length of time spent in the shower.
However, in order to reduce demand further, protect reservoir stocks and enable Yorkshire Water to apply for variations in its permits so it can operate its reservoirs and river abstractions differently, they said it is necessary for the company to move into the next stage of its drought plan which means introducing temporary restrictions on the use of hosepipes from 11 July.
Activities that are not permitted while the temporary restrictions are in place include:
· 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 without using a hosepipe 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.
Dave added: “These restrictions are intended to make sure that we have enough supply 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. With more dry weather forecast in the coming weeks, it is likely our stocks will continue to fall so we need to act now to maintain clean water supplies and long-term river health.
“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.”