Yorkshire Water: Customers "bearing the brunt of failure" amid hosepipe ban, MP says
Yorkshire Water’s customers are “bearing the brunt of its failure,” an MP has said as homeowners prepare for a hosepipe ban.
The ban, due to come into force on Friday, was announced by the company earlier this week after it said reservoir levels had not increased since January due to low rainfall.
But Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon has demanded the company tells customers how it will “put this right.”
He said: “Yorkshire Water has questions to answer over how they have left their infrastructure in such a poor state for so long. With so much water being lost to leaks, customers are bearing the brunt of their failure to do the basics right.
"My constituents and the people of Yorkshire deserve to know their bills are well spent. Yorkshire Water must urgently set out how they will put this right.”
The ban is the first announced by a major utility in the UK this year, with those flouting it risking a £1000 fine.
The region’s reservoirs currently stand at 55.8 per cent full, which is 26.1 per cent lower than they would normally be at this time of year, Yorkshire Water said, as it urged customers to comply.
People can still wash their car and water their gardens using tap water from a bucket or watering can, while the region’s 139,000 businesses will be allowed to use a hosepipe if it is directly related to an essential commercial purpose
A spokesperson said: “We would urge people to follow the restrictions in place. Reducing the use of hosepipes, which use approximately 1,000 litres of water per hour, is important to protect water resources for the remainder of the summer and also to help protect the environment.”
Bills would not be affected by the hosepipe ban, the spokesperson added, and are set for the next five years.
Last year the Environment Agency found more than a fifth of water supplies from Yorkshire Water leak and are lost before they reach customers’ taps.