Yorkshire Water says hosepipe restrictions could be lifted in coming weeks after reservoir levels increased for the tenth consecutive week.
Following another period of heavy and persistent rainfall, the region’s reservoirs are now at 84.6%, up from 80.5% last week. Levels in the Hull aquifer have also risen to 49.4%, compared with 46.6% seven days earlier.
The latest improvement follows a record 15% surge in reservoir storage caused by Storm Claudia.
The company said removal of drought permits was a key step towards lifting hosepipe restrictions sooner than originally anticipated.
Dave Kaye, Yorkshire Water’s director of water and wastewater services, said the situation was continuing to improve rapidly.
He added: “We’re now confident that we’re moving into a healthy position across our reservoirs, rivers and groundwater sources, after seeing further rainfall over the last seven days and another significant jump in our reservoir levels.
“Restrictions are still in place for the time being, but we are working to lift them as soon as possible, hopefully within the next few weeks. This is earlier than we had originally thought possible, and it’s thanks to the water-saving actions of people in Yorkshire that we’re able to pull it forward.
“We’re now working with the Environment Agency to reduce the measures we put in place during the drought — a step we have to complete before restrictions can be lifted. This process can take several weeks, but we won’t keep restrictions longer than necessary.
“In the meantime, we will continue to monitor and manage our resources carefully. Once again, we’d like to thank all of our customers for continuing to save water throughout the restrictions.”
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