Drought in Britain is drying up vital water reservoirs

Five key reservoirs in England and Wales were at “exceptionally low” levels on 11 August, Environment Agency data cited by The Guardian showed, as drought and extreme heat strained public water supplies.

Almost three-quarters of England and the whole of Wales are now in drought after back-to-back climate crisis-driven heatwaves across much of Europe this summer. Across England, total reservoir levels fell to 66%, down from 69% the previous week and nearly 14 percentage points below the level expected for the time of year.

Wimbleball reservoir, operated by South West Water, was at 46% capacity, while Clatworthy in Somerset was at 48%. Hanningfield in Essex and Clywedog in Powys were each at 56%, and the Dove group in Derbyshire was at 69%.

Of the 32 reservoirs the Environment Agency classifies as strategically important or geographically representative, only four were at normal levels: Draycote Water in Warwickshire, Bewl in Kent, Roadford in Devon and Vyrnwy in Powys. The National Hydrological Monitoring Programme said July aridity had been “unprecedented” and that “widespread below-normal to exceptionally low” water flows were likely to persist well into the autumn, with “further deterioration” likely.

Alastair Chisholm, lead for water policy, regulation and governance at Arup, said three droughts in five years put the country in “new territory”. Prof Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said: “There is very little rain forecast over the next couple of weeks and that is more the concern. If we go through autumn and winter and have low rainfall, we could have real trouble.”

No new reservoir has been built in the UK since 1992, while Greenpeace UK research found water companies waste 2.87bn litres a day through leaky pipes in England and Wales. The Environment Agency has estimated England’s public water supply could be short by 5bn litres a day by 2055 without urgent action; two major reservoirs ordered last year in East Anglia and Lincolnshire are not due to be ready until 2036 and 2040 respectively.