Drought conditions now cover 71.3% of England following the driest July in 190 years, increasing pressure on farming, water supplies, navigation, and businesses dependent on reliable access to water.
The National Drought Group said the East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Kent and East Sussex, and Solent and the South Downs moved into drought status on 10 August.
Around 45 million people are now living in drought areas, with more than 27 million covered by restrictions on water use. The North East and Yorkshire have moved into prolonged dry-weather status, the stage before drought, leaving no part of England classified as normal.
Rainfall during the first part of August has been only 5% of the expected amount, following exceptionally dry and sunny conditions during July.
The immediate effects are becoming increasingly visible in agriculture. Farmers have reported some of their earliest harvests in two decades alongside reduced yields, while livestock businesses are beginning to use winter forage because grass growth has weakened.
Lower feed availability is expected to put pressure on milk production. Irrigation restrictions are also increasing, adding another constraint for growers and agricultural businesses that depend on abstraction during the summer.
More than 1,500 restrictions are in place in East Anglia, while hundreds of abstractors are being required to reduce the amount of water they take from rivers. A smaller number in the Wensum catchment in Norfolk have been required to stop abstraction because of low river flows and environmental pressure.
Tony Grayling, strategic drought lead at the Environment Agency, said conditions “will continue to do so until we see significant and sustained rainfall.”
The operational problem is not confined to the current severity of restrictions. Businesses also face uncertainty over how long low water availability will persist and whether limits will tighten further before conditions recover.
Reservoir storage across England has fallen to 69%, around 11.6% below the level expected for this point in the year. Storage declined 16% during July, the largest July reduction in raw reservoir storage for at least 30 years.
Only 14% of river flows are currently classed as normal, while 22% are exceptionally low. Those conditions affect not only public water systems and agriculture but also navigation, logistics, and other commercial activities dependent on rivers and canals.
Twenty-six navigation closures and 19 restrictions are in place across the Canal & River Trust network, with further closures possible if rainfall remains insufficient.
Low water on major European rivers, including the Rhine and Danube, is also disrupting freight, river transport, and energy generation. The international experience shows how prolonged dry weather can move from an environmental issue into a transport and infrastructure constraint.
Drought already covered around half of England at the end of July. The increase to more than 70% in less than two weeks demonstrates the speed of deterioration during what authorities are describing as a flash drought.
Eight water companies have introduced Temporary Use Bans across some or all of their areas. The restrictions primarily affect household and discretionary uses, but broader pressure on supplies has implications for businesses with high water requirements and agricultural producers dependent on abstraction licences.
The government is considering additional support for farming and is working on measures intended to make construction of on-site irrigation reservoirs easier. Longer-term plans include new reservoirs and water-transfer infrastructure, while planning changes are intended to make large reservoir projects outside the water sector easier to progress.
Those measures operate on a different timetable from the current shortage. Businesses managing through the summer must deal with falling river and reservoir levels, restrictions, and the possibility that dry conditions continue into September.
Water efficiency, storage capacity, alternative supply arrangements, and the resilience of agricultural suppliers are consequently becoming operational considerations in affected sectors rather than solely environmental questions.
The Met Office expects further dry weather interspersed with unsettled spells, but authorities currently see no strong signal for sustained widespread rainfall. Drought status will not be reversed by isolated storms because meaningful recovery requires prolonged precipitation capable of replenishing rivers, soils, groundwater, and reservoirs.
With drought recorded in England in 2022, 2025, and now 2026, water availability is emerging as a recurring infrastructure constraint. The current episode has already extended into farming output, transport disruption, abstraction limits, and public-supply restrictions across most of the country.
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