Water firms prepare emergency plans in case of severe 2026 drought

Water companies and the government are drawing up emergency plans for a drought next year more extreme than any experienced in decades.

- Helena Horton Environment reporter

Executives at one major water company said they were extremely concerned about the prospect of a winter with lower than average rainfall, which the Met Office's long-term forecast says is likely. They said if this happened, the water shortfall would mean taking drastic water use curtailment measures "going beyond hosepipe bans".

Droughts are usually multiyear events. While much of England went into drought this summer, with hosepipe bans across much of the country, things were not as bad as they could have been because it had been a rainy autumn and winter the year before. This meant reservoirs were full and groundwater - the storage of water under the soil - was charged up.

But months of record dry weather meant much of that water was used, and it has not been replaced, despite roughly average September and October rainfall. Average reservoir storage is now at 63.3% compared with the usual average of 76% for this time of year. Ardingly in West Sussex and Clatworthy and Wimbleball in Somerset, are below 30%.