Hunter Water said the move to lift Level 1 restrictions, which have been in place since last September, was the result of a combination of factors including ongoing water savings and a significant reduction in leakage across network.

Lower Hunter residents have used on average 15 per cent less water than expected - equivalent to saving the water use of 52,000 households - since restrictions were introduced almost a year ago.

Hunter Water's leakage reduction efforts had led to a further 13 per cent fall last financial year, bringing the total reduction to 34 per cent in three years.

"This is an outstanding effort by the Lower Hunter community. These results, combined with decent winter rainfall and a promising weather outlook for wetter than average conditions in spring, are behind the decision to remove Level 1 water restrictions," Hunter Water managing director Darren Cleary said on Friday.

"While this is welcome news, we can't lose sight of the lessons from the severe drought and return to past water use habits. I'm pleased that so many people across the region have adopted the new habits brought on by water restrictions and it makes sense for them to continue these behaviours in their daily routines to help save our precious resource."

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Hunter Water's overall storages stood at 79.4 per cent on Friday, up 16 per cent from the same time last year.

Mr Cleary said Hunter Water customers would return to permanent water conservation measures from October 1.

"It's important that we all continue to save now for summer and not become complacent with our water use. The severe drought demonstrated how quickly our water storages can fall during the warmer months as they have large surface areas and are prone to evaporation," said Mr Cleary.

"We need everyone to help us Love Water all year round by continuing to make smart water choices in their everyday behaviour. These measures include only watering outdoors with a trigger nozzle hose before 10am and after 4pm and not hosing hard surfaces.