England is probably one of the last places you'd associate with a lack of rainfall, but water levels in reservoirs across Yorkshire ran perilously low after a bone-dry spring and summer. However, thanks to some timely autumn rain and a recent bout of storms, water reserves are looking a great deal healthier.
The BBC reported that the heavy rains that came with Storm Claudia have caused water levels to surge across Yorkshire. Sheffield reservoirs went from just over half capacity to 80% in just one week, while the water levels in Washburn Valley's reservoirs in North Yorkshire increased by 20% in the same period.
The positive developments cap nine successive weeks of improvements.
Director of water services for Yorkshire Water David Kaye said, "While nine weeks of positive recovery does not entirely make up for the shortfall left by 28 weeks of decline due to the driest spring and summer on record in the region, it represents a very encouraging step in the right direction."
Droughts are becoming more common in England, particularly in the south of the country. As human industry causes heat-trapping emissions, extreme weather events become the new normal. Research by Britain's Met Office projects that this phenomenon will continue to manifest in the form of even drier summers with wetter winters.
The recovery in Yorkshire hasn't been evenly experienced, and some reservoirs are still running low, meaning the water restrictions in place for 5 million homes across the area remain in place for now.
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The fluctuating water levels highlight the need to take local action to ensure that a short-term upswing in fortune isn't squandered in the long term.
In the U.K., hosepipe bans tend to be the go-to strategy for conserving water, while some municipalities across the pond are encouraging residents to ditch water-guzzling grass lawns in favor of drought-resistant native flora. Sustainable gardening methods like xeriscaping can save millions of gallons of water every year.
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