Reservoir stocks remain low despite weekend rain
Yorkshire Water has warned that reservoir levels remain low, despite rainfall in the region over the bank holiday weekend.Its reservoir stocks have been falling since late January due to one of the driest springs on record and increased customer demand during warmer temperatures.They dropped to 62.9% on Monday from 66.1% the previous week, which is far below the average of 87.8% for this time of year.The firm said the recent wet weather caused a "very small" increase in river flows, particularly in the rivers Ure, Nidd, Wharfe and Aire, but many were dropping back down towards the "historically low levels" seen earlier in May.
Dave Kaye, the company's director of water, said: "The rain over the weekend and the picture for an unsettled week ahead is a welcome relief for the region after a very dry spell."While the rainfall over the weekend helped gardens recover and will help trees and plants in full spring growth, gardens and trees will have taken most of the rainfall, leaving less to run off into rivers, groundwater or to top up reservoirs."Yorkshire Water thanked customers for helping to create a drop in overall water usage in recent days and urged people to continue to save water where possible."Coupled with wind and some sunshine, a lot of the rainfall has quickly evaporated," he added."Soils are also very dry after nearly four months of very dry weather so will soak up a lot of rain, holding the water and not allowing it to flow to rivers or groundwater."
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