A hosepipe ban is now in force for households across Hull and East Yorkshire as another hot spell hits the region.
Yorkshire Water says the county as a whole experienced one of the driest and warmest springs for 132 years leading to the region being declared in drought.
Though there has been some heavy rainfall in the past two weeks, it has been generally showery, isolated and short-lived. Meanwhile, a yellow-level heat-health alert is now in force in Hull and East Yorkshire with temperatures expected to hit between 28 and 31C today, with the cooler temperatures nearer the coast.
It’ll stay very warm over the weekend too with highs between 24 and 27C before dropping further on Monday and Tuesday when showery rain is expected to spread in.
The restrictions on water usage, which came into effect today (Friday, July 11), ban households from using hosepipes for activities such as watering the garden, cleaning cars and filling paddling pools. Customers who ignore the ban could potentially face fines of up to £1,000 but Yorkshire Water previously said “we hope it won’t come to that” as it urged households to help conserve water by sticking to the restrictions.
Activities that are not permitted while the temporary restrictions are in place include:
- Using a hosepipe to water a garden
- Using a hosepipe to clean private vehicles or boats
- Watering plants with a hosepipe on a domestic or other non-commercial premises
- Filling or maintaining a domestic swimming, paddling pool, hot tub or cold-water plunge pool with a hosepipe
- Using a hosepipe for domestic recreational use
- Filling or maintaining a domestic pond or ornamental fountain using a hosepipe
- Cleaning walls or windows of domestic premises using a hosepipe
- Cleaning paths or patios using a hosepipe
- Cleaning other artificial outdoor surfaces using a hosepipe.
It is permitted to wash a car or water a gardens without using a hosepipe by using tap water from a bucket or watering can, or by using water that is not sourced from taps such as grey water, rainwater from a water butt, or a private borehole.
Households are also allowed to use a hosepipe if required for washing animals and watering food crops. There are more details on the Yorkshire Water website for households.
Blue badge holders, those on Yorkshire Water’s Priority Services Register or WaterSure tariff for medical reasons, are also excluded from the restrictions.
The restrictions do not apply to businesses if hosepipe use is “directly related to the use of water for commercial purposes” such as watering plants for sale at garden centres and they can be used by car wash companies. However, there are restrictions on non-essential uses for businesses such as cleaning a path outside a property.
Meanwhile, landlords are being encouraged to remind tenants that, as a general rule, the person who uses the hosepipe is responsible for complying with restrictions – usually the tenant. Yorkshire-based lettings agency Linley & Simpson says, if the tenant lives in the property and maintains the garden, they are responsible for hosepipe use during the ban.
Yorkshire Water’s director of water, Dave Kaye, said: “We are implementing the hosepipe restrictions now to help conserve water for the coming months and to protect Yorkshire’s environment. As a result, people are being asked to stop using their hosepipes to water their gardens, wash their cars or for any other activities.
“Introducing these restrictions is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’ve been doing everything we can to avoid having to put them in place.
“Our region experienced an extremely dry spring, which resulted in the region entering drought status in June. Usually, spring is a time when our groundwater sources and reservoirs continue to be topped-up by changeable weather, but this has not been the case in 2025, with our reservoir stocks falling since the last week of January.
“Of course, we have seen a few periods of changeable weather more recently, which helped slightly with the water resources picture. But these have been followed by constant high temperatures and more dry weather, which causes increased water usage. Between April and June, we supplied an additional 4.3 billion litres of water compared with a typical year.
“We’re grateful to our customers, who have been saving water where they can this year already. It is really important that we all continue to do so.”
Yorkshire Water says it has been “carefully managing water resources in the region for several months”, moving water via a regionwide grid system to balance stocks.
In the longer-term, the utility says it is investing £406m to replace more than 1,000km of water mains around the region to reduce leaks and bursts, as well as exchanging 1.3 million smart meters to help detect leaks.
Yorkshire Water is also investing in improvements to water treatment works in the region and new water sources for the future, with borehole projects underway in Brayton and East Ness to bring new sources of raw water into supply.