Winter arrives early to boost Yorkshire’s water levels in reservoirs after months of drought
Yorkshire Water says there will be no easing of drought restrictions despite the recovery of water levels after recent weather events.
Rainfall brought to Yorkshire by Storm Claudia a week ago has led to significant improvement in Yorkshire’s reservoirs, rivers and ground water levels.
Reservoirs in Nidderdale now stand at 81% capacity, up from 73%, while reservoirs in the Washburn Valley are 80%, up from 60%.
As recently as September, Yorkshire’s reservoir levels sat at just 30.6%.
Despite the improving situation, Yorkshire Water said the county remains in official drought status and it still needed to manage water resources “very carefully”.
Dave Kaye, director of water services at the water giant, said: “The impact of storm Claudia over the weekend, and our continued drought permit activity, has led to another record-breaking uplift of reservoir levels.
"While nine weeks of positive recovery does not entirely make up for the shortfall left by 28 weeks of decline due to the driest spring and summer on record in the region, it represents a very encouraging step in the right direction.
“We continue to see varied levels of recovery across the region, and we are working hard to balance those supplies and move water around via our grid network.
"But in some cases, this is not possible, and those reservoirs need to recover naturally through rainfall.
“While our recovery plan is on track, Yorkshire remains in official drought status.
"Recent Environment Agency reports indicate that lower than average rainfall over winter would result in continued drought and risks to water supplies next year, so we need to continue managing our resources very carefully.
"That being said, when we introduced the restrictions in July, we said we would remove them as soon as resources recovered, and that aim has not changed.
“In the meantime, we would like to thank customers in their efforts to stick to the temporary restrictions and those taking steps to conserve water resources.”
The Environment Agency officially declared a drought across Yorkshire in June,
When a hosepipe ban was first introduced across Yorkshire in July, domestic water usage decreased by 10%.