A drought has been declared for parts of England following the driest summer for 50 years.

The conditions, which have almost completely deprived some areas of rainfall all summer, have prompted the National Drought Group to move parts of the South West, parts of southern and central England, and the East of England into official drought status.

Thames Water said they would be introducing a temporary use ban on hosepipes and sprinklers and expect to announce the details next week.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We’ve been preparing for a potential drought this summer since the winter last year. We made good use of abstractions earlier in the year to fill our reservoirs in London and accelerated maintenance work on the QE2 reservoir in London which has provided more storage over the past dry months.

"We have also worked closely with the Environment Agency to keep our Thames Valley storage at Farmoor Reservoir topped up as much as possible.

"In May we launched a media campaign urging customers to use water efficiently. 

“The prolonged hot weather and ongoing lack of rain has meant that we are now planning to take our drought plan to the next stage which is to introduce a temporary use ban. We anticipate announcing the details next week.

"In the meantime we continue to urge our customers to only use what they need for their essential use."

The Environment Agency has moved into drought in eight of its 14 areas:

Devon and Cornwall

Solent and South Downs

Kent and south London

Herts and north London

East Anglia

Thames

Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire

The east Midlands.

However, the Environment Agency has reassured the public that essential water supplies are safe.

The NDG is made up of representatives from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), water companies, the Environment Agency, the National Farmers’ Union, Natural England, Consumer Council for Water, water services regulator Ofwat, Water UK and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, as well as the Angling Trust and the Rivers Trust.

At a meeting earlier this summer, it moved most of England into “prolonged dry weather” status, the first of four stages used to describe it’s response.

It has now moved to “drought”, the second stage.

Water Minister Steve Double said action was already being taken by the Government, the EA and others to manage the impacts.

“All water companies have reassured us that essential supplies are still safe, and we have made it clear it is their duty to maintain those supplies”, he said.

“We are better prepared than ever before for periods of dry weather, but we will continue to closely monitor the situation, including impacts on farmers and the environment, and take further action as needed.”

The most recent EA data showed rainfall totals for August have ranged from 12% of the long-term average in north east England to 0% in south east and south west England.

Meanwhile river flow data revealed almost 90% of measuring sites were showing below normal readings, with 29% classed as “exceptionally low”.

It comes after the driest July on record for some areas and the driest first half of the year since 1976.

The heat and dry conditions have also taken their toll on agriculture.

When hosepipes bans are in places, people caught watering their gardens will face £1,000 fines and prosecution.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms affecting much of the UK, including Oxford on Monday, after a sweltering weekend.

But dry ground absorbs water far more slowly and heavy rainfall could spark flash floods.

Thames Water’s strategy and regulatory affairs director Cathryn Ross told BBC Breakfast that dehydrated earth also puts pressure on underground water pipes, making them more likely to burst.

Thames Water already loses about a quarter of its supply to leaks.

 

 

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