Government activates plan to protect consumers as severe drought declared in parts of England

Official release

Water companies in parts of England have been told to step up drought planning, as the Government takes measures to protect customer supplies in areas entering severe drought.

The Government has declared severe drought in parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex. The South East and South West have experienced their driest April to September in over a century, impacting reservoir levels in that area.

While customer water supplies will be uninterrupted, declaring a severe drought ensures proactive steps are taken to safeguard water before any disruption occurs.

The Government’s plans include:

Alongside these steps, the Water Minister Emma Hardy has instructed the Environment Agency to prioritise protecting public water supplies in areas affected by severe drought, where there is an unavoidable trade-off between environmental rules and water supplies. This means allowing water companies to keep more water in depleted reservoirs.

Environment Secretary, Dame Angela Eagle, said:

This morning’s announcement follows the latest meeting of the National Drought Group, which the Government has convened regularly since August to coordinate the response to unprecedented dry weather and hold organisations to account for their actions.

The expert group – which includes the Met Office, Government, regulators, water companies, the National Farmers’ Union, the Canal & River Trust, anglers, hydrologists, and conservation experts – has again urged people to use water wisely to protect water supplies.

Environment Agency Chief Executive, Philip Duffy, said:

Today’s action sits alongside long-term measures the Government is taking with water companies to strengthen the UK’s water resilience after decades of underinvestment. This includes investing £104 billion to upgrade water infrastructure, building nine new reservoirs across the country to increase water supply, and changing planning rules to make it easier to build reservoirs.

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Source: UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs ↗ · Updated 15 Oct 2026, 5:01 pm IST