Yorkshire Water Announces Hosepipe Ban – What Business Customers Need To Know

Temporary water use restrictions in Yorkshire from Friday 11 July 2025.

After prolonged dry weather and falling reservoir levels, Yorkshire Water has announced it will enforce a Temporary Use Ban (TUB) from Friday 11 July. The TUB will apply to all customers who receive clean water from Yorkshire Water, including business customers.

What is a TUB?

A TUB restricts the use of hosepipes and anything attached to them, including sprinklers and jet washers for:

• Watering gardens, allotment or plants
• Filling or maintaining paddling pools, swimming pools or hot tubs
• Cleaning vehicles
• Cleaning windows, walls, paths, patios and other artificial outdoor surfaces like artificial grass
• Recreational use like water fights and water slides

What this means for your business

Non-essential hosepipe use is restricted. This includes activities such as:

• Washing private hire vehicles like taxis or limousines
• Watering communal gardens (e.g. in care homes) with a hosepipe
• Filling ornamental fountains or decorative water features
• Cleaning paths, windows or vehicles not part of a paid commercial service

However, if your business uses water as part of its commercial operations, you may still use hosepipes and sprinklers for essential needs, including:

• Cleaning commercial vehicles like buses, lorries, tractors, and mobile shops
• Washing down external areas for health and safety purposes
• Watering plants or turf installed within the last 28 days
• Using water for construction purposes (e.g. cement mixing)

Full FAQs for business customers are available here.

What should you do now?

We’re asking all Castle Water customers in Yorkshire to:

1. Use water responsibly – small changes make a big difference.
2. Check your site for leaks – internal leaks can waste thousands of litres.
3. Talk to your team – encourage employees to switch off hosepipes when not in use and report leaks.
4. Consider switching to low water-use equipment – such as pressure-reducing washers or drip irrigation systems.
5. Get in touch if you need help – we can support you with leak detection, AMR devices, and water efficiency audits.

Want tailored advice for your site? Visit our water efficiency for business page.

Need to speak to someone?

If you wish to speak directly to Yorkshire Water regarding the Temporary Usage Ban, you can call them on 03451 242424 – option 3. For more information visit the Yorkshire Water website here.

If you have any questions about your Castle Water account or need support with managing water use on site, contact our customer service team on webchat at castlewater.co.uk.

Let’s protect Yorkshire’s water together

Castle Water is committed to fairness, transparency and responsible water use. While the current restrictions have minimal impact on most business operations, your efforts now can help prevent further restrictions and safeguard resources for all.

If drought conditions continue, additional restrictions may be introduced. We will keep all affected customers updated.