Yorkshire Water is turning to maximising reservoir recovery - rainfall across the region has seen Yorkshire’s reservoir levels rise for the seventh consecutive week, with stocks now at 57.1%.

Photo: low levels at Fewston reservoir

However, whilst levels increased, they remain well below the 74.2% average for this time of year. To enable reservoirs to recover as much as possible over the next few months, Yorkshire Water has hired an additional 10 task teams to focus on finding and fixing leaks across the region.

Dave Kaye, director of water services at Yorkshire Water, said:

“Our reservoirs, groundwater sources, and rivers, are in recovery following the extremely dry weather we experienced in the spring and summer. However, stocks are still much lower than they should be for this time of year, and we need significant increases over the autumn and winter so that we are in a strong position heading into spring 2026.

“This means making use of the drought permits and orders we have been issued around the region to make use of more river and groundwater, helping us to hold water in the reservoir and allowing them to top up via the rainfall we’ve seen so far in autumn.”

With more wet weather predicted, Yorkshire Water is encouraging customers to support reservoir recovery efforts by continuing to conserve water resources where they can, using water butts to capture rainwater, and checking their homes for leaks.

Dave Kaye added:

“We’ve repaired over 11,000 leaks since the beginning of April this year, and we’ve been repairing those leaks an average of 36% faster than usual – leakage has reduced by 34 million litres per day since the start of April. However, we know there is more to do and with cold weather comes more leakage as the ground moves, and as water freezes and puts pressure on the pipes. We’re making sure we’re prepared for this by bringing additional colleagues into the business to find and fix leaks quicker.

“We’re also progressing with our £406m mains replacement scheme at pace. We've replaced 100km of water mains across the region so far, focusing on those that were more likely to burst or leak.”

Since April, smart meter data has enabled Yorkshire Water to reach out to 2,800 households to advise that they may have a leak in their property – with repairs reducing leakage by 2.24 million litres a day. The roll-out will continue over the coming months.

The hosepipe restrictions remain in place and will be lifted as soon as reservoirs have sufficiently recovered.