image expired

The latest data for rainfall over the past year showed that all but two regions in England received below average precipitation, with the East and West Midlands suffering exceptionally low rainfall, raising concerns about the potential for a drought next year, following the same pattern as the infamous drought of 1976.

Parts of the Midlands, the South and East Anglia remain dry. Experts have warned that unless autumn and winter bring heavy rain there may not be enough reserves of water to raise healthy crops next year. Terry March of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology "it’s a problem at the moment because rainfall over the past six months has been very low, particularly in Central England and East Anglia, and river flows have declined. At the same time, ground water levels have fallen; in many areas they are close to their lowest levels on record."

"We are going to require a wet winter in order to replenish groundwater stocks so they are at the normal range by next spring."

If the weather remains dry in Central England and East Anglia, the UK’s principal cereal growing regions and traditionally driest area in the British Isles, farmers will have to manage their water supplies ever more carefully. During the dry spring, farmers in parts of East Anglia reported they were within days of reaching the limit of their extractible supplies.

Last week, the river Dore in Herefordshire, which has had only 60 per cent of its average rainfall since October last year, dried up, prompting the Environment Agency to launch rescue attempts for stranded fish. Two miles of the river dried up after several dry years in the region had reduced its flow. An Environment Agency spokesperson said the agency did not believe the river had dried up as a result of abstraction, but added that it is "constantly checking" the situation.