UK Construction and Law
Drought response moves to weekly meetings, and the regulator is running more water compliance checks on businesses
By Staff Writer | 21 August 2026
The National Drought Group is now meeting weekly after a COBR meeting chaired by the Prime Minister. Almost three quarters of England is in drought, reservoir stocks stand at 62.6 per cent, and the Environment Agency has applied to Defra for a drought order cutting what water companies may take from the River Severn. Alongside the restrictions sits a building programme: nine new reservoirs, and a route in the Planning and Infrastructure Act that sends reservoirs built outside the water sector straight to the development consent process.
The announcement was published on 20 August 2026. It records that 71.3 per cent of England is in drought, that no new areas moved into drought status that day, and that the south and the midlands are in drought while the north remains in prolonged dry weather. The areas named as in drought run from East Anglia, Hertfordshire and the whole of London through the Thames Valley, Devon and Cornwall, Wessex, the West Midlands, the East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Kent and East Sussex, and the Solent and the South Downs.
The numbers behind the escalation
England has had the driest July in 190 years, a dry start to August and five widespread heatwaves. July delivered 10 per cent of the long term average rainfall and August had delivered 17 per cent up to the 18th. River flows are lower than they were in 2022, the last time England had what the agency calls a flash drought. Reservoir levels have fallen to 62.6 per cent, which is 16.3 per cent below what would be expected now, and groundwater in the Cotswold limestone aquifer is exceptionally low for the time of year.
The agency has recorded 226 incidents linked to drought. There are 288 irrigation restrictions in place in East Anglia. Nine water companies in England have imposed restrictions affecting 29 million customers. The agency has applied to Defra for a drought order to reduce the volume water companies may abstract from the River Severn, and one company has applied for two drought orders of its own, one to hold normal abstraction rates from the River Test during low flows and one for a ban on non-essential use.
This current rainfall isn't enough to change the overall drought picture, and it is possible to have simultaneous drought and flood as heavy rain falls on compacted soils.
Philip Duffy, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency
The sentence that reaches a site
Among the work listed by members of the group is one line with a direct commercial edge: the Environment Agency is carrying out more compliance checks on businesses to make sure everyone is using water fairly. The announcement does not say how many checks, in which sectors, or on what basis they are selected, and it should not be read as naming construction. It does mean that a business holding an abstraction licence, or relying on a mains supply in an area now under restriction, is more likely to be asked to account for what it takes than it was in the spring.
The other exposure is the weather itself. Surface water flooding is now a live risk on ground too hard to absorb rainfall, which is a temporary works and site drainage problem rather than a hydrological curiosity. Thunderstorm warnings were in place in parts of the country as the group met.
What is being built in response
The construction consequences are longer term and larger. The government is investing at least £10.5 billion by March 2036 in new flood and coastal erosion schemes and repairs to existing defences. The Environment Agency has completed 250 projects in the last two years, better protecting almost 62,000 properties. A £65 million package for farmers announced last week includes £15 million to support around 100 new on-farm reservoirs, and nine new public water supply reservoirs are named as part of the climate adaptation programme.
For anyone planning a scheme, the procedural change is the one to note. Changes in the Planning and Infrastructure Act allow companies outside the water sector to build reservoirs that automatically fall within the category of nationally important infrastructure, which routes them through the development consent process rather than the local planning system. Defra is also progressing mandatory water efficiency labelling and is due to respond to a consultation on improving water efficiency in new homes.
A drought is only over once rivers, reservoirs and groundwater are replenished, and the hydrologists advising the group expect low river flows into the new year. On that timetable, the restrictions arrive before the reservoirs do.