Even with decent rain in September, the drought is expected to continue for a good while yet. Replenishing the resevoirs, rivers and groundwater will take months of rain and the impacts have been harsh.
The National Drought Group (NDG) met on Monday 15th September as concerns continue around water supplies, and the environmental impacts of the lengthy dry summer. The drought situation is expected to continue through autumn despite recent rain.
For the first time since January, England received above average rainfall for the month and the wettest week for almost a year.
“However, the drought is not over, and it will require a wet autumn and winter to return us to a normal position. We need to maintain focus on managing demand, maintaining supplies and protecting the environment.” NDG
A warm and dry summer followed a spring with very low rainfall. By the middle of September, five areas of England remain in drought as do parts of Wales, and northeast Scotland, with its declared significant water shortage.
The September rain is helping. Public water supply reservoir storage rose by 0.4% last week to 56.5% (data to 17th Sept.) but some reservoir levels continued to fall, more than half of them. Stocks in both the Pennines and Yorkshire group are lowest, at just above 30% . However, Yorkshire Water reservoirs finally increased by 0.2%, the first time since January. Northern Ireland saw 125% of its whole month average rainfall in the first half of September. Southwest England and south Wales combined saw 123% of the whole month average.
September rain to 20th shown on Netweather Radar
Even with much-needed heavy rain this month it will not make enough of a difference just yet. Think of the reservoirs like a bath. If someone came along and emptied two pints of water in a bathtub, yes there has been input, but it is nowhere near what is needed. We continue to use water from the reservoirs, rivers and groundwater supplies each day but the lack of summer rainfall has not replenished these supplies, pushed to critical low levels in places. There are competing demands from the public water supplies, agriculture, businesses and the environment.
“Drought is causing significant environmental impacts, with Atlantic salmon, hedgehogs and garden birds struggling. “ NDG
Alan Lovell, Chair of the Environment Agency, said: “While we have seen some recent rain, it is nowhere near enough to reverse the impact of the last seven months, which have been the driest since 1976. The environment bears the brunt of this lack of rainfall, and this summer we have seen widespread impacts from low river levels, fish needing to be rescued, and wildfires. We are calling on everyone to continue to take simple steps to reduce their water use and are grateful to people for following the restrictions imposed by water companies. "
The lack of rainfall has impacted harvests, navigation, and there have been restrictions to the public with hosepipe bans (Temporary Use Bans TUBs). Garden animals such as hedgehogs and birds have been struggling with the ongoing dry weather due to the lack of insects to eat as wetland birds encounter dry soils. Low water levels and warmer waters affect the oxygen content of rivers and lakes. Over the summer, there have been reports of algal blooms and dead fish incidents. These are counted as environmental incidents and relatively high numbers have been recorded in the northwest of England and the West Midlands this year. Spawning pools have lower water levels or dry up in these conditions, affecting the breeding success of species such as salmon and sea trout.
The dry conditions also enabled larger wildfire spread which caused damage in many areas including Dartmoor and the North Yorkshire Moors.
For the agricultural sector, the rainfall is easing pressure and is most welcome but there are still concerns about water availability heading into winter and even for next year. This year’s harvest has been mixed after the hardships of spring. Generally, crop yields have been lower and of poorer quality due to the longer dry spell. It was a very early harvest, easy with the dry weather except for lifting root vegetables but the recent rain will help with the dry soil. Some areas have done well but livestock farmers are struggling with forage shortages and rising costs. There has been poor grass growth and low quality hay and straw. Many will have already used winter feed and will be thinking about next year’s crops. As the irrigation season ends (and in drought areas, there have been many restrictions) focus turns to the refilling of winter storage reservoirs. If the low rainfall continues into autumn and even winter, irrigation will be impacted again next year.
“Farmers and growers need help to improve long-term water resilience"
Areas in drought Cumbria & Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside & Cheshire, Yorkshire, East Midlands,West Midlands. Areas in prolonged dry weather North East, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, East Anglia, Thames, Wessex, Solent and South Downs.
Water companies approach the environment agencies to declare their drought level, which runs from 1 up to 4. Several water companies have been at level 1 for many weeks, with SES Water just moving to level 1 last week. They cover an area south of London and might need to update their website. At drought level 2; Bristol Water, Southern Water, Southwest Water, South Staffordshire Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water remain at drought level 3 and currently most severe in England.
Yorkshire’s reservoirs did see a slight increase last week and the weekend rains will have helped a little. It has been a historically dry first half of the year, leading to the drought 2 restrictions which will remain in place into autumn until the reservoir levels recover. This is incredibly welcome rain but much more is needed and Yorkshire Water are asking its customers to continue with their water saving and careful usage. They have pledged to continue to fix leaks and bring leakage down. The NDG praised the public for reducing their water use, highlighting how it helped protect the “health of our waterways and wildlife.”
Sept 11th 2025 Orange - drought, yellow - prolonged dry weather NRW
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) reports that their South East, Upper Severn and North Wales catchments are in drought status, with their South West catchment still at prolonged dry weather status.
“The recent rainfall has eased some of the pressures resulting from the dry, hot spring and summer, however, it has not yet been sustained enough to see a full recovery from drought.” NRW
SEPA in Scotland has seven areas in Significant Scarcity: Findhorn (East), River Avon, Lower Spey, Deveron, Ythan, South Ugie Water, Upper and Lower Don (Aberdeenshire). 18th Sept. There have been abstraction restrictions for months and often rural properties in Scotland have private water supplies from boreholes. By late August, “In the east of Scotland, average reservoir levels are down 1% to 57%, which is 24% below the average of 81% for this time of year there.” Scottish Water. Further south in the Scottish Borders, West Water reservoir, which serves some of West Lothian, was at 40%. Scottish Water has been using tankers to supplement normal water supplies in some parts of the country.
SEPA Water scarcity 18th Sept 2025 The purple and orange dots show how many days of very low river flows. Purple 30+ and Orange 20-29 days.
River levels have been in the normal range for western Scotland and the far southeast of England in August (CEH) but below normal to notably low elsewhere. There is some encouragement in the Hydrological Outlook for September with normal to above normal flows in the NW but with less for the south and east of the UK, the deficiency continues. People and businesses are still using water; it is important to think about the balance in and out.
As our climate continues to change and warm, we will continue to see drought conditions. There can be planning and calls for resilience and adaptation but controlling water supplies will be a very important business. There is pressure on water companies to fix their leaks and follow the imposed restrictions as droughts are declared. Interestingly, as some rain has appeared this month, leakage has increased in places as the dry ground adjusts.
In the 2008 Bond film Quantum of Solace, the villain Dominic Greene diverted masses of water in Chile whilst pretending to be an environmental philanthropist. It showed how important our precious global resource is. In times of sunshine and heat, people are happy to consciously “save water”. Waterwise surveyed 2,000 in the dry weather at the end of August and more than 2/3rds agreed that it was right to ask people not to use a hosepipe. Just 11% disagreed. However, it is more difficult when it does rain. There still isn’t enough water, but public perception changes far too quickly, especially amongst Facebook agitators.
Last week, Southern Water had to take action against the estate of American businessman and philanthropist Steve Schwarzman, the founder and CEO of giant investment company Blackstone. Gallons of water were privately transported into the grounds, some to be used to fill a new lake, driving right past local households under hosepipe bans. There was nothing wrong legally but it did seem like a glaring loophole for those in the wider area under a lengthy TUB.
As covered in August, the canal network has been struggling as water levels fell and feeder reservoirs lowered. There have been widespread closures and restrictions across the Canal & River Trust network throughout the usual height of the season. Around 20% of the networks have been closed, mainly in northern and central England. Some reservoir levels fell to 11% capacity. The trust has brought forward some winter engineering works whilst the closures are in place.
UK Hydrological Outlook Issued on 09.09.2025 using data to the end of August 2025
Groundwater: The outlook for September: sites in central England, South Wales, the South Downs, and central Scotland are likely to see notably to exceptionally low levels. For September-November, groundwater levels are expected to trend closer to normal.
Rainfall 18th- In the first 16 days of September rainfall varied from 89% of the monthly long-term average (LTA) rainfall for September in the east to 126% of the monthly LTA in the south-east.
UKCEH Water resources portal/ station catchments - red exceptionally dry, orange - severely dry
Soil Moisture
Soil moisture deficits (SMD) have reduced significantly across most parts of England, except in the east, which received less rainfall. Soils in the east are still very dry and, despite reducing slightly, remain close to their long-term maxima. Nine sites across the country recorded their driest August soil moisture levels on record (COSMOS-UK). It was warm, sunny and dry. SMDs are expected in summer when evaporation exceeds rainfall. In winter (under UK conditions)soil moisture reaches a relatively constant value which is known as the field capacity. It is a measure of how much water the soil can hold against gravity and relates strongly to the soil type
Groundwater
Nationally across the UK, 30% of public supply comes from groundwater with up to 50 % in SE England. (BGS) As expected at this time of year, groundwater levels continue to recede across England. Levels in the Wessex Downs, Cotswolds and parts of the South Downs are exceptionally low for the time of year (mid Sept). Levels in chalk aquifers in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and parts of the North Downs are below normal or notably low. This is a time of waiting for recharge to exceed natural discharge plus abstraction. This is when groundwater levels will rise. There are a series of boreholes across the country for monitoring groundwater levels. North Wales levels are above average and the weekend rain will have helped further. Southeast Wales groundwater levels are still causing concerns in a more populated region of Wales.
A drought is only over when groundwater, river and reservoir levels are fully replenished. A few wet, rainy days are not enough to offset the long dry months.
It will take a wet autumn and winter to reverse the impacts of seven continuous months with below-average rainfall. It is possible to see flooding in a time of official drought. And then the ground is dry, sudden heavy rain and just run off rather than soaking into the ground, which causes surface water flooding. One of the issues for farmers is trying to capture the rainfall when it does arrive.
The current water shortfall in England has been defined as a “nationally significant incident” based on the number of areas affected and the wide impacts on the environment.
It is harder to find discussion about the dry conditions in NE Scotland away from the weekly water scarcity reports from SEPA. Scottish Water did issue a plea in May 2025 for the public to reduce their water use, which worked in the warm, sunny weather but there has been nothing since. Western Scotland has received a good amount of rain but the east remains rather dry as high pressure builds in for the week beginning 22nd September.
With dry and sunny weather for late September, people may be pleased with the “fine” conditions but this ongoing lack of rainfall has to be acknowledged, not just by farmers enduring a hard year but by embedded behaviours that this precious resource isn’t always going to appear from our taps.
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