Severe drought declared in parts of six counties in England
Water companies in parts of England have been told to step up drought planning as the government takes measures to protect customer supplies, Defra said.
The government has declared severe drought in parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has said.
The South East and South West of England have had their driest April to September in over a century, which has affected reservoir levels in the area.
Customer water supplies will be uninterrupted, Defra said, and declaring a severe drought ensures proactive steps are taken to safeguard water before any disruption occurs. The announcement did not say whether water companies will bring in restrictions on use.
The Environment Agency’s September summary for Devon and Cornwall puts total reservoir storage at 37% on 27 September. Wimbleball stood at 21% and Colliford at 39%. Roadford, the fullest of the three, was at 43%. The total is higher than the 33% recorded at the end of September 2022, the most recent drought year, though the agency describes all its data as provisional.
What happens now
Ministers are instructing water companies to carry out daily monitoring of reservoir and river levels, along with tougher water quality monitoring.
The Environment Agency will increase compliance checks on businesses that withdraw water from natural sources, to make sure they take only permitted quantities. Local Resilience Forums have also been stood up so that support can be developed quickly if it is needed.
Water Minister Emma Hardy has told the Environment Agency to prioritise protecting public water supplies in affected areas where there is an unavoidable trade-off between environmental rules and water supplies. That means water companies can keep more water in depleted reservoirs.
Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle said: “This level of drought is something we have not experienced for decades, so this government is stepping up our support and planning.”
Eagle also urged everyone to think about “how they can use water wisely over the coming weeks”.
The announcement on 15 October followed a meeting of the National Drought Group, which the government has convened regularly since August. The group includes the Met Office, government, regulators, water companies, the National Farmers’ Union, the Canal & River Trust, anglers, hydrologists and conservation experts, and it has again urged people to use water wisely.
Philip Duffy, chief executive of the Environment Agency, said: “Recovery depends on both rainfall and how much water we use. We cannot change the weather, but water companies can act now.”
Duffy said the agency expects water companies to follow their drought plans and was also asking everyone to use less water, which would leave more in rivers and the environment, helping farmers and protecting wildlife.
Defra said the action sits alongside long-term measures, including £104 billion to upgrade water infrastructure and nine new reservoirs across the country.
