The Environment Agency has released guidance on refilling irrigation reservoirs for farmers facing drought in parts of England this year. Due to continued dry conditions and forecast of more to come, a drought in Southern England is now inevitable and rainfall will mostly only determine the scale of the drought.

England and Wales have received 32 and 81 per cent of their long term average for March respectively. The impacts of the drought will be determined by the amount of rain received over the next six weeks, according the Environment Agency.

Furthermore, as this month marks the end of the recharge window, during which groundwater recharge can occur, levels are not expected to recover during the summer. Soil Moisture Deficits around the UK are exceptionally high, with some regions being worse affected than during 1976, the last major drought year.

The Environment Agency’s measure to help farmers refill irrigation reservoirs include, reducing the cost of taking high flows in summer, increasing pump rates to fill reservoirs faster, relaxing hands off flow conditions in abstraction licences and extending the abstraction season. The agency said each proposal would be assessed on its own merits, but in some cases conflict with other abstractors or environmental risks may mean proposals are rejected.

The agency has urged farmers wishing to take advantage of the conciliatory measures, or who are not planning t use their license this year, to contact their local officer or the national customer contact centre on 03708 506 506 as soon as possible, in order for their case to be assessed. More information can be found in the guidance document here.

There has been a rise in the number of restrictions on agricultural abstraction – with 105 such constraints in place in East Anglia, 205 in the South East and 77 in the Midlands. However, there are not currently any licences subject to formal Section 57 restrictions.

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