Severe drought has been declared in parts of southern England, including areas of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex, and West Sussex, following months of insufficient rainfall. The announcement was made by the Environment Agency after a meeting of the National Drought Group, which assessed current water resources and drought conditions across England.
The drought declaration comes after the region experienced its hottest summer on record, leading to significant impacts on water supplies due to high demand.
Reservoir levels are critically low. For example, Wimbleball Reservoir on Exmoor is currently at 14.9% capacity. Other major reservoirs also show significantly reduced levels: Roadford in Devon is at 36.8%, Burrator at 33.6%, Colliford in Cornwall at 35%, and Stithians at 21.9%. The Environment Agency has classified Colliford and Wimbleball as having "exceptionally low levels."
Despite the drought declaration, the government has stated that customer water supplies will remain uninterrupted. The declaration is intended to ensure that proactive measures are taken to safeguard water resources before any disruption occurs.
Government plans include instructing water companies to conduct daily monitoring of reservoir and river levels, along with enhanced water quality monitoring. The Environment Agency will also increase compliance checks on businesses that withdraw water from natural sources to ensure they adhere to permitted quantities.
