Current situation

This week south and east Yorkshire have moved into drought. Areas from Sheffield in the south of Yorkshire to Scarborough in the east fall into the drought zone, with areas around Doncaster, Hull and Driffield also affected. But while the Rivers Don, Rother, Hull and Derwent are low or very low for the time of year, public water supplies are not currently affected.

East Anglia and the south east of England are also in drought. Parts of the Midlands and the south west are also experiencing the impacts of the dry weather. In Wales, the current position and outlook for summer is normal. However, an exceptionally dry spring and summer could mean the position in Wales may change.

It has been a very dry week across England and Wales. All regions have had 1mm or less of rainfall. Soil moisture deficits have increased. The greatest increase was 14mm in our South West Region, though the greatest deficits continue to be those in our Anglian, South East and Midlands Regions, at 57mm, 38mm and 33mm respectively. River flows continue to decrease and are similar to flows at the same time in March 1976.

Helen Vale, National Drought Co-ordinator, said: “With the drought widening to affect parts of Yorkshire, it is more important than ever that we all use water wisely and use less of it. The amount we use at home and in our businesses has a direct effect on the amount of water available in rivers and for wildlife. We also expect water companies to do more to tackle leaks and continue their campaigns to encourage customers to use water wisely.

We have published drought maps to our website so people can see whether their local area is in drought – see www.environment-agency.gov.uk/WIYBY.”

Some of the actions taken

The Environment Agency say the following actioons have been taken.

• published interactive drought maps on our website. The ‘in drought’ and ‘at risk of drought’ maps can be found on the ‘What’s in your backyard’ area of our website.

• produced an advisory note on alternative supplies for domestic borehole owners. We are working with the Drinking Water Inspectorate and others with responsibilities for private drinking water supplies to ensure abstractors can get clear advice. The advisory note can be found on our website.

• released the updated prospects for spray irrigation in the east of England. The report warns that conditions on licences that limit abstraction at times of low river flows in the summer will begin earlier than usual in parts of the region (1 April). Formal Section 57 restrictions are likely to come in later in the summer and we will continue to work closely with farming groups locally to manage these. Overall prospects for spray irrigation are poor. Our other regions are also releasing updated reports.

Environmental impact

We are receiving reports of small streams and ponds drying up due to the dry weather in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Yorkshire. Fish are beginning to show signs of distress in some of these areas. We are continuing to monitor river levels across England and will take action to manage any environmental impact where river levels are low.

We are moving fish from the Maxey Cut - a flood relief channel in Lincolnshire which is located between Peterborough and Market Deeping - before the ongoing drought causes water levels to drop further. This will take around two weeks to complete and the fish will be released into the River Welland. For more information see our website.

British Waterways has imposed restricted lock opening times at a number of locations on the Oxford Canal, the Grand Union Canal and the Kennet & Avon Canal. For further information see the waterscape website.

Public water supply

Reservoir stocks have decreased slightly across England and Wales. Stocks remain exceptionally low for the time of year at Ardingly and Bewl reservoirs in the south east. Reservoir storage in Rutland Water in the east of England has moved to exceptionally low this week.

There is a drought order in place for South East Water to help refill Ardingly reservoir that expires on 31 March. We are in pre-application discussions with South East Water for a potential drought permit on the Lower Ouse and discussing other possible options.

There are two drought permits in place for Anglian Water to help refill Pitsford and Rutland reservoirs. These permits are due to expire at the end of March and the end of April respectively. Anglian Water will not be applying to extend the permit to refill Pitsford reservoir as flows at the top of the River Nene are very low and are unlikely to improve to the point where a permit could be used. The company will support supplies to the Northampton area by transferring water from other parts of it’s Ruthamford system, including the use of Grafham Water.

We have granted an extension to the drought permit for Southern Water to help refill Bewl reservoir until 30 April.

We have granted a drought permit to Sutton and East Surrey Water to help refill Bough Beech reservoir. Sutton and East Surrey Water is licensed to abstract from the River Eden from September to April and the permit allows the company to abstract until the end of May.

Agriculture

The number of agricultural licences where farmers cannot abstract due to low flow conditions on their licences has increased with116 licences affected in East Anglia and 143 in the Midlands. In the south east the number of restrictions remains unchanged at 205.

We have agreed a 20 per cent voluntary reduction in groundwater abstraction for the Lark Valley abstractors group and hope for others to volunteer to do the same in East Anglia. There are currently no licences subject to formal Section 57 restrictions.

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