Record breaking levels in rainfall in April have helped to boost Yorkshire Water’s stocks to the tune of an extra 12 billion litres.
Average reservoir levels in the region, which stood at around 91% before the April rain, now stand at an average of 98%, with many full to overflowing.
The company, which provides its 4.9 million customers with an average of 1.24 billion litres of water a day, sources its drinking water from rivers and boreholes, as well as its extensive reservoir network.
However, the company has said that whilst reservoir levels are looking healthy, borehole levels are still far from healthy as a consequence of the driest 20 month period since records began.
In February, Yorkshire Water’s boreholes in the east of the region were 20% lower than would normally be expected. As a result, the company made the decision to allow these to replenish by drawing less on them
and instead sourcing water from northern and central parts of the region, using its £300 million underground grid to move around 20 million litres of water a day across to the east where it was most needed.
Record levels of rainfall in April has helped to partly replenish the company’s borehole stocks, but Yorkshire Water has stressed that many more weeks of sustained rainfall would be required to get these back to healthy levels.
Ian Stevens, water resources manager at Yorkshire Water, commented:
The record levels of rainfall in April have helped to replenish stocks, with reservoirs across the region looking very healthy.
However, it’s worth remembering that the last 20 months have been the driest on record, with groundwater supplies really suffering as a consequence.
Borehole supplies always take much longer than reservoirs to replenish, so whilst we have seen them recover slightly over the last four weeks, there’s still a long way to go before these are at anything like healthy levels.
We’re continuing to work hard to manage and balance stocks across the region, with our message to customers remaining the same as ever: Only use what you need, and be sensible around how you use what is a very precious resource.
From this month, the company will be hitting cities and towns across the region to offer free water saving gadgets and encourage customers to continue to play their part by conserving water where possible.
- 18/19 May – outside boots, Barnsley
- 25/26 May – Fargate, Sheffield
- 1/2 June – outside Poundland, Scarborough
- 8/9 June – Rotherham
- 15/16 June – Prospect Crescent, Harrogate
- 22/23 June – Lands Lane, Leeds,
- 6/7 July – Queen Victoria Square, Hull
- 10/11/12 July – Great Yorkshire Show, Harrogate
Customers can also visit the company’s website – yorkshirewater.com/savewater – to get there hands on water saving packs and advice.
Top five water saving tips:
- Take shorter showers – the shower uses around 10 litres of water a minute. If everyone cut their time in the shower by one minute a day, nationally enough water could be saved to supply London for between two to four months.
- Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth – one in four people still leave the tap running while brushing their teeth. Turning it off can save six litres a minute, which can save a serious amount of water if everyone does it.
- Fix leaking taps – a dripping tap can waste over 60 litres of water per week.
- Fully load your washing machine – a full load uses less water than two half loads.
