Hosepipe ban: 5 ways to save water during a drought

Yorkshire Water has shared some top tips for saving water during a prolonged dry spell. The Environment Agency recently announced that ten of England’s 14 regions are now officially in drought, including Yorkshire. As Yorkshire Water prepares to introduce a hosepipe ban on Friday 26th August, it shares some of its top water saving tips.

Putting your hosepipe away is a great start, but there are other ways you can save water too:

1. Reuse and recycle – Whilst you wait for your shower to warm up, pop a bucket under the water to catch what would’ve been wasted water – and use it elsewhere in your house. It’s great for watering plants or doing the dishes with. If you don’t want to use it straight away, pop it in your rain butt and save it for another day.
2. Leaky loo losses – Almost one in ten households have a leaky loo. The average toilet leak loses around eight litres of water every hour, which adds up to over two baths a day, or 876 baths a year per household.
3. Love your brown lawn – When there’s prolonged dry weather, grass can start to look brown – but don’t fear, grass is one of the most resilient plants you can have in your garden, and it doesn’t need to be watered. When the rain does come, it’ll bounce right back to a vibrant green once again.
4. Sing while you save – Keeping showers short is a great way to reduce water use. Yorkshire Water have created a playlist – with everything from Bon Jovi and Blur to S Club 7 – which is comprised of four-minute songs to help you time your shower.
5. Mucky motors – Washing the car can waste hundreds of litres of water – just cleaning the mirrors, windows and lights with a bucket of soapy water helps to save on the amount you use.

Yorkshire Water have a range of water saving devices that are free to order from their website, including leaky loo detection strips, four-minute shower timers and shower regulators, which help slow the flow of your shower.

Martyn Hattersley, head of demand management at Yorkshire Water, said: “Our customers understand the challenge we’re currently facing and whilst we’re increasing efforts to save as much water as possible from leaky pipes, our customers are doing their bit to save water at home too. There are some really easy tips you can adopt to save water – such as keeping your showers short or reusing grey water to feed your plants.

“A huge thank you to our customers who are using water wisely. By reducing the amount of water used, we can help to keep as much water in reservoirs as possible and protect the environment. As the ground is incredibly dry at the moment, we would need a few months of wet weather to help them return to their usual levels, so it’s really important that people keep taking steps to save water.”

For more tips on saving water, go to: https://www.yorkshirewater.com/your-water/save-water/

Leakage

Yorkshire Water has increased resources in its networks, leakage and repair teams, in order to save water from leaky pipes.  The regional water company invested around £500m and reported a 14% decrease in water lost through bursts and leaks over the last five years. It is increasing efforts further in reaction to the prolonged dry weather – when the ground is dry it causes pipes to fracture and break more easily. For more information on Yorkshire Water’s leakage activity, go to: https://www.yorkshirewater.com/news-media/news-articles/2022/yorkshire-water-bolsters-leakage-drive/

Hosepipe ban

“Parts of Yorkshire have seen the lowest rainfall since our records began more than 130 years ago. The hot, dry, weather means that Yorkshire’s rivers are running low and our reservoirs are lower than we would expect for this time of year. We’ve been doing everything we can to avoid putting in restrictions but unfortunately, they’re now necessary as part of our drought planning. The ban will come into effect on 26th August, and we’ll keep everyone updated on when it will end.” For more information on the hosepipe ban, go to: https://www.yorkshirewater.com/your-water/is-there-a-hosepipe-ban/