Across the Pennines they're preparing for a hosepipe ban.

But in Huddersfield and the rest of Yorkshire there are no plans for a ban to preserve water supplies.

The last time Yorkshire was the subject of such a ban was in 1995 .

While Yorkshire Water has a healthy stock of corporation pop its North West counterpart, United Utilities, is struggling with depleted levels.

United Utilities has been accused of 'lining shareholder pockets' at the expensive of fixing leaks, the Manchester Evening News reports. United Utilities' latest annual report shows in the last year it lost 454 megalitres (one megalitre is a million litres) through leakage.

Low water levels in Wayoh Reservoir, near Bolton, as millions of people are facing a hosepipe ban,

The North West from Cheshire to Cumbria — with the exception of Carlisle and the north Eden Valley where water levels are healthy — will be the subject of a Temporary Use Ban which comes into force on August 5.

Martin Padley, United Utilities water services director, said: "Despite some recent rainfall, reservoir levels are still lower than we would expect at this time of year and, with forecasters predicting a return to hot dry weather for the rest of July, we are now at a point where we will need to impose some temporary restrictions on customers.

"It is not a decision we have taken lightly and we are enormously grateful to customers for having helped reduce the demand on our network over the last couple of weeks, but unless we get a period of sustained rainfall before August 5 these restrictions will help us safeguard essential water supplies for longer."

So why isn't there going to be a hosepipe ban in Yorkshire?

Yorkshire Water says it has been able to meet demands by moving water from areas with healthy supplies to areas were it is more in demand.

The company, however, says it has no plans to sell any of surplus to United Utilities.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said: “Due to the continued hot and dry weather over the past month we have often seen an extra demand of up to 200m litres of water per day, which is more than the daily demand of a city the size of Leeds.

“Our planning process means we have been able to deal with this by increasing supply and using our grid to move water around the county.

“However, thanks to customers heeding advice about how to use water wisely, demand has reduced over the last week.

“We would ask customers to continue being careful with their use of water and if they need help, they can order our free water saving packs at yorkshirewater.com/savewater.

But if there was a hosepipe ban what would it mean?

Staines Reservoirs in Middlesex, during the drought of 1976

The ban restricts the use of hosepipes or sprinklers for watering private gardens and washing private cars but customers will still be able to water their gardens with a watering can and wash their vehicles using a bucket and sponge, the firm said, which uses a fraction of the amount of water a hosepipe or sprinkler uses.

Exemptions to the ban can include using a hose for "health and safety reasons", such as removing or minimising any risk to human or animal health or safety, or preventing or controlling the spread of disease.

People can also still fill a home birthing pool, clean graffiti off public buildings or fill water troughs for animals.

Break the ban and you can be fined up to £1,000.

How much water does a hosepipe ban save?

Low water levels on Dove Stone Reservoir, on Saddleworth Moor, as millions of people are facing a hosepipe ban, water company United Utilities has announced

A hosepipe uses 540 litres an hour, as much as a family-of-four would use in one day, while a sprinkler left running overnight uses as much water as a family-of-four would use in one week, according to United Utilities.

A hosepipe ban can reduce water usage by 5-10%, according to research by United Kingdom Water Industry Research.