Reservoirs saw biggest weekly rise in more than 30 years, Yorkshire Water says

Yorkshire Water said reservoirs in the region have seen their biggest weekly rise in more than 30 years.

Stocks increased to an average 45.6% in the last seven days – up 14.8 percentage points – after the start of autumn brought heavy rain.

The largest inflows into reservoirs in the last week included more than three billion litres at Scar House in North Yorkshire, 2.7 billion at Grimwith in the Yorkshire Dales, 900 million at Langsett in South Yorkshire and 750 million at Digley in West Yorkshire.

Groundwater levels and the region’s rivers also saw a significant increase in water levels.

However, the reservoirs remain well below the 69.6% average for this time of year, the utility said.

The rain has not made an impact on Yorkshire’s drought status, which remains in place alongside a hosepipe ban for households.

Both will remain in effect until reservoir and groundwater levels have sufficiently recovered, Yorkshire Water said.

The UK had one of its driest springs on record and the hottest summer on record, which led to water shortages and plunging reservoir levels across England.

The unusually low levels in Yorkshire’s reservoirs even revealed structures that were submerged decades ago.

Dave Kaye, director of water services at Yorkshire Water, said: “The rainfall we’ve seen over the last seven days has had a significant impact – the largest weekly increase in stocks we’ve seen in 30 years.

“The rain over the last seven days has also recharged groundwater and the region’s rivers.”

Mr Kaye said the increase in river levels means the company can abstract more from them under its drought permits, which he said will allow reservoirs to continue their recovery.

But he added that while the increase is welcome, stocks are “still well below where they should be at this time of year”.

“We hope the reservoirs and groundwater will continue to recover through the autumn and winter months so we’re in a good position entering 2026,” he said.

The national drought group, which includes the Met Office, regulators, government, water companies and other organisations, last week warned that England was still facing a scarcity of water despite autumn rain.

Yorkshire is one of the five regions under drought status, with others expected to follow in coming weeks.

Officials have said the outlook for autumn shows a higher likelihood for wetter and windier conditions than normal, but rainfall may still not be enough to reverse the drought conditions.

The water shortfall has been defined as a “nationally significant incident” based on the number of areas affected and widespread damage being inflicted on the environment and agriculture.

Pressure on resources has been growing in recent years amid competing demands, the growing impacts of climate change, and a lack of investment in infrastructure, with no new reservoirs built in 30 years.

Mr Kaye said Yorkshire Water is tackling more than 800 leaks in its network each week and is laying 1,000km of new pipes over the next five years.