'Cannot justify!' Yorkshire residents left furious as county-wide hosepipe ban looms

The region received just 15 cm of rainfall between February and June, less than half of what is typically expected in an average year.

There has also been an increased water demand, leaving the region’s reservoirs just 55.8 per cent full, which is 26.1 per cent lower than they would normally be at this time of year.

Locals have expressed their anger to the People's Channel as the weather remains hot, and they are unable to complete tasks such as cleaning their cars, watering their gardens, filling domestic pools, and cleaning their windows.

They have accused Yorkshire Water of not fixing leaks, poor management of reservoirs and charging the public too much.

John Fleck told GB News: "It's just another company charging us more and providing us with less, which seems to be a trend at the moment.

He added: "Other countries, much warmer than ours, somehow always seem to manage, but then in the UK, leaks are often left unfixed for weeks. The reservoirs aren't looked after, and we seem to go full circle between flooding in the winter to hosepipe bans in the summer."

Yorkshire Water has not confirmed how long the ban will last but suggested it will remain in place until the region has seen "significant rainfall".

They warned restrictions could continue into the winter months.

Richard Stephen Taylor said: "With the ludicrous price rises and lack of repairs to the network, they cannot justify requesting the paying public to pay more and use less. They need to stop paying the fat cats more and actually pay the ground workers to go out and do the repairs and improvements needed.

"More houses are being built that all need supply. Use some money to build another reservoir, maybe, or tap into the ocean, we are an island surrounded by water after all."

Sarah Green told the People's Channel: "I think the water company are ridiculous. They put their own fines on our payments, and in a cost-of-living crisis, they put our payments up because they made an error the previous year. How on earth is there a water shortage with the rain we have had and still getting, I’ve no idea how they can justify a hosepipe ban."

Residents can still complete tasks that require water by using a bucket or watering can.

The ban does not apply to businesses which are allowed to use a hosepipe if it is directly related to their commercial purpose.

Yorkshire Water director of water, Dave Kaye, said the restrictions "could last into the winter months".

Kaye explained: "With more dry weather forecast in the coming weeks, it is likely our stocks will continue to fall, so we need to act now to maintain clean water supplies and long-term river health.

"Having restrictions in place also allows us to apply for drought permits from the Environment Agency (EA), which means we can abstract more water from our rivers and reduce compensation flows out of our reservoirs so that we can continue to provide the water our customers rely on us for.

He added: "The restrictions will come into effect on July 11 and will be in place until the region has seen significant rainfall to bring reservoirs and groundwater stocks back to where they need to be.

"This may last into the winter months, but we will lift the usage restrictions as soon as we are able."

It comes after Yorkshire officially entered drought status last month following its driest spring in 132 years, receiving 66 per cent of the long-term average May rainfall, according to the Environment Agency.

The UK experienced its sunniest April this year since records began in 1910, with 47 per cent more sunshine hours than the long-term meteorological average, according to the Met Office.

Weather records were also broken in June when England recorded its warmest June since 1884, new Met Office figures have revealed.