YORKSHIRE Water is reminding residents that a hosepipe ban comes into force at midnight.
The ban means customers will be prohibited from using hosepipes for things like watering a garden, washing private vehicles, filling domestic pools or cleaning outdoor surfaces.
People will still be able to wash their car and water their gardens using tap water from a bucket or watering can, while the region’s 139,000 businesses will be allowed to use a hosepipe if it is directly related to an essential commercial purpose – but not for other uses such as cleaning paths outside a business property.
Those who ignore the hosepipe ban could be fined up to £1,000.
Instead, they are encouraged to inform Yorkshire Water.
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “If we are told repeatedly about someone breaking the restrictions, the first thing we do is remind them of their obligations.
“This is usually enough.
“However, if they continue to use a hosepipe, we may escalate our enforcement accordingly.”
A drought was declared by the Environment Agency across Yorkshire in June.
The Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “Starting tomorrow, we’re kindly asking everyone to pop their hosepipes down for a bit to help our region’s reservoir levels recover and protect Yorkshire’s water resources throughout the summer months.
“This is following the driest spring for 132 years, which led to the region being declared in drought.
“We’ve tried everything possible to avoid these restrictions, and despite our customers’ help to save water where they can and our efforts to manage water resources – including adding an extra 100 people to our leakage team and upgrading our infrastructure to reduce leaks and bursts – the dry weather and warmer-than-usual temperatures have increased demand.
“We have supplied an additional 4.3 billion litres of water between April and June compared to a typical year.
“This has left our reservoirs more depleted than expected and lower than average for this time of year.”
The spokesperson added: “The restrictions 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 rest assured, we will lift it as soon as we are able to.”
For more information about the hosepipe ban, visit www.yorkshirewater.com/your-water/is-there-a-hosepipe-ban
