UK's first hosepipe ban 'to last until winter'

A hosepipe ban which has come into force across Yorkshire is expected to last until winter, the head of the region's water company has said.

More than five million householders have been barred from using hosepipes for activities such as watering the garden, washing the car or filling a paddling pool.

It is the first regional ban in the UK this year and comes after months of extremely hot and dry weather across England, with more high temperatures forecast over the weekend.

Nicola Shaw, chief executive of Yorkshire Water, told BBC 5 Live said: "I expect it to last until the winter as that is when the reservoirs will have recharged."

Yorkshire Water said the region had experienced its driest and warmest spring on record, with only 15cm of rainfall between February and June - less than half of what would be expected in an average year.

The company said the restrictions were needed to protect supplies in the face of more dry weather forecast in the coming weeks.

However, the decision has been criticised by some bill payers who expressed frustration at the number of leaks which appear to go unchecked.

In October, the Environment Agency (EA) reported that 21% of Yorkshire Water's supplies were lost due to leakage, higher than the national average of 19%.

The loss in Yorkshire equates to about 260 million litres every day.

When pushed on this issue, Ms Shaw, who received a bonus of £371,000 on top of her base salary of £585,000 last year, said she accepted the leakage rate was high but said it "was absolutely one of our priorities".

She added: "We have a lot of water mains across Yorkshire but because they're underground they are subject to some of the problems of the stresses and strains of movement of the soil and when it gets really dry they also break more."

"We've been working really hard on this and we've got less leakage from our pipes than we've ever had in Yorkshire.

"We are getting to fix leaks much quicker than we ever have done before."

The ban, which applies to customers across much of Yorkshire, parts of North Lincolnshire and parts of Derbyshire, comes after the Environment Agency declared a drought across the region last month.

Anyone flouting the restriction could be fined up to £1,000.

Ms Shaw, who was said to have turned down a bonus this year ahead of legislation which would have prevented her from receiving it, said businesses were able to continue using hosepipes as normal while restrictions were in place.

"We're asking people to use them for non-essential purposes. Please don't wash your car with a hosepipe, you can absolutely use a bucket.

"Washing your car with a hosepipe will use about a 1,000 litres if you did it for an hour."

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