A HOSEPIPE ban which was put in place after the driest start to the year in more than 70 years has today been lifted.
Recent rainfall has now allowed water company United Utilities to lift a ban which left residents in a number of outlying Chester villages including Kelsall, Tarvin and
Tattenhall, near Ellesmere Port, north of the M56 and east of the River Dee, unable to use their hosepipes since the beginning of July.
Despite more than nearly twice the average rainfall across the region in the last two weeks of July, reservoirs are still below average for the time of year.
Richard Blackwell, United Utilities' supply demand manager, said: "Reservoir levels have risen in recent weeks in Cumbria and north Wales and have stabilised in the Pennines with the rainfall over the last month.
“We now have sufficient reservoir storage overall to be able to lift the ban.
“ This will come as welcome news to our millions of customers, who have been extremely patient and conscientious in their water usage.
"Our key reservoirs in Cumbria and north Wales are now at the kind of levels we would expect for the time of year. Pennine reservoir levels remain below normal, with some still at very low levels, but we are now able to compensate for this shortfall by moving more water from Cumbria and north Wales using our integrated pipe network. Overall, the situation is much improved and the ban is no longer required to safeguard essential supplies.”
The company estimates that since the ban was introduced its customers saved a total of four billion litres of water - enough to provide more than 230 toilet flushes per household.
But water bosses are still urging customers to use water wisely and help to save water around the home and garden.