River levels in the Wharfe Valley have been falling due to the hot weather – but there’s no sign of a hosepipe ban.

Yorkshire Water says it plans to keep its promise to avoid a hosepipe ban this year, despite rivers and reservoirs coming under pressure after demand for water peaked in July.

Since the heatwave began, Yorkshire Water customers have been using around 100 million litres a day more than the 1.3 billion they usually get through but supplies are still healthy due to the downpours last summer.

A Yorkshire Water spokeswoman said: “There’s no plan for any kind of hosepipe ban – the stocks we have are enough to keep us going. We did promise people there wasn’t going to be a hosepipe ban this year.

“We will monitor the levels very closely. The river levels are down and the reservoir levels are down slightly as well, but I imagine the rain we’re getting this week will top that up slightly.”

The river level at the Environment Agency’s monitoring point at Otley is 0.45 metres – the typical level starts from 0.36 metres while at Ilkley the current river level is 0.28 while its usual level starts from just 0.09 metres. The level at Pool Bridge this week was 0.43 metres and 0.7 metres at Arthington – all well within the typical level range.

However, Yorkshire Water is still reminding people to be careful about how much water they use.

Turning the tap off when brushing teeth could save six litres of water per person.

Using a watering can instead of a sprinkler could save up to 1,000 litres of water an hour. A four-minute shower instead of a bath could save up to seven litres of water.

There are also a number of free water-saving gadgets available from Yorkshire Water’s website – yorkshirewater.com/save water.

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: “River levels did start falling in July but have now gone back up to normal since then.”

However, she said there was further hot weather predicted after this week and asked people to keep an eye on local rivers and fish as soaring temperatures and low rainfall can lead to low oxygen levels in the water, placing fish at risk.

Any reports can be given to the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 807060.