Severe drought FAQs
The Environment Agency uses different stages to describe drought management, depending on the severity. The stages are:
- prolonged dry weather
- drought
- severe drought
- recovery
Severe drought means indicators like rainfall and reservoir levels have been exceptionally low for a long period of time. There may be possible widespread impacts on the environment, agriculture, and drinking water supplies.
These stages help with drought management based on whether the situation is getting worse or better. You can read more about the stages in the Environment Agency publication Drought: how it is managed in England.
The change means that the Government and the Environment Agency will monitor the situation closely to help protect water supplies. The Government may activate incident response arrangements including the Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR).
The Environment Agency will move to category 1 incident response mode – the most serious level, which involves working with abstractors (those who remove water from rivers) and stakeholders. The Environment Agency will continue to process and enforce drought permits and orders, and produce briefings to update the public and key stakeholders.
As a water company, we follow our own drought plans which set out measures to help address the drought, such as working with businesses to conserve supplies, or considering if alternative sources of water are available.
Following the hottest summer ever recorded, drought conditions continue across much of England. You might be wondering how we could be in drought at this time of year when there has been some rain.
The answer is that the rain we have had is not enough to counteract all the months we had with high temperatures and low rainfall. Much of the rainwater has been absorbed by dry soil, rather than adding to river flows.
On top of that, the volume of rainfall we have had in September and so far in October is lower than the long-term average.
We usually take water from both rivers and reservoirs, but river flows are still not strong enough to allow us to take much from them. This means we have to rely on the water that’s stored in your local reservoir. And that water is now limited. You can find more information about our reservoir levels here.
We always do everything we can to avoid putting restrictions such as a hosepipe ban (temporary usage ban) in place. Through the summer, we monitored reservoir levels closely and took actions including moving water around the network, increasing leak detection and repairs, and deploying additional resources to protect supplies.
We only impose a hosepipe ban when absolutely necessary as we recognise the impact it has on customers. We will lift the restrictions as soon as we can. The hosepipe ban was put in place when it was clear it was necessary, according to our drought plans.
No, the severe drought does not entitle you to a reduction in your water bill. However, if you have a water meter, saving water should reduce your next bill.
Rainfall in September and October is usually enough to increase river flows, which enables us to take water from rivers as well as from reservoirs.
This year, the lack of rain in the summer left the ground very dry. Initial rainfall is being absorbed by the soil, rather than making its way into the groundwater that adds to river flows. We have also had less rain than average for the time of year.
We can’t take as much water as usual from rivers because they have very low levels, which means we’ve been relying on reservoir stores.
We will continue to supply customers with drinking water and we are doing everything we can to avoid any disruption to supply. You can help by saving water wherever you can to safeguard essential supplies.
We are continually tracking the rate that our key storage reservoirs are emptying. To help slow the rate that the water is being used up, we’re taking actions in conjunction with the Environment Agency to boost supplies from other areas, reduce demand and make the water reserves last longer.
This summer broke records for heat and lack of rainfall, surpassing 1976. However, we’re doing everything we can to avoid putting any further measures in place. Our severe drought plan sets out how we would take all possible measures to avoid the need for severe drought restrictions for customers - such as rota-cuts or standpipes.
We want to avoid any further restrictions but we also need to be clear with customers about the severity of the situation and the need for water-saving. This will help to support levels in reservoirs and reduce the risk of further measures being required.
We often move water from one area to another to help with temporary supply challenges. However, water cannot simply be moved without limit from an area where resources are healthier to an area under greater pressure.
Geography, pipeline capacity, treatment capability and network configuration all affect how much water can be moved and where. The scale of the challenge means that we cannot transfer enough water from surrounding areas.
We are not the only region experiencing these challenges. Severe drought has also been declared in parts of south and south-east England.
Lack of rainfall impacts regions differently because of their unique geographical characteristics. In the South West, we have a large and complex network spread across a long peninsula, serving communities across a wide geographic area with significant seasonal increases in demand.
Our water supply also differs from many other regions. Some water companies rely heavily on groundwater stored naturally in underground aquifers. Across much of the South West, we are more dependent on surface water, particularly rivers and reservoirs. These sources can come under significant pressure during prolonged dry weather and take some time to recover once drought conditions develop.