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

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: 

• Ministers instructing water companies to conduct daily monitoring of reservoir and river levels and tougher water quality monitoring; 
• The Environment Agency to increase compliance checks on businesses that withdraw water from natural sources to ensure they are only taking permitted quantities of water; and
• Local Resilience Forums stood up to enable quick and effective development of support if required. 

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 level of drought is something we have not experienced for decades, so this government is stepping up our support and planning. 

We are working closely with water companies to protect public supplies in the areas affected, and I'd continue to urge everyone to think about how they can use water wisely over the coming weeks. 

Our strengthened Water Bill is all about taking back public control of our water companies. We are at the start of a decade-long journey to a very different water system, including nine new major reservoirs to secure supplies.

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:  

Record-breaking summer heat and severe drought have put our water resources under immense pressure.

Recovery depends on both rainfall and how much water we use. We cannot change the weather, but water companies can act now. We expect them to follow their drought plans and take the steps needed to secure public water supplies.

We are also asking everyone to use less water. That will leave more in our rivers and the environment, helping farmers and protecting wildlife and nature.

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.