Environment Agency declares drought status in Yorkshire

Yorkshire has today (Friday 9 October) officially entered drought status due to low water levels in reservoirs and rivers. This follows the declaration of prolonged dry weather for the area at the end of July due to a lack of spring and summer rainfall.

The region joins all of central, southern and eastern England in drought status while the North East and North West remain in prolonged dry weather.

The government and the Environment Agency continue to scrutinise water company actions and ensure they are adhering to their statutory drought plans to conserve supplies and support communities.

The National Drought Group, which includes the government, Met Office, regulators, water companies, farmers, Canal & River Trust, anglers, and conservation experts, is now meeting weekly to monitor the situation and coordinate action as part of the heightened incident response.

The recent rainfall is not yet enough to replenish all the water we’ve used over the spring and summer, and the Yorkshire drought declaration highlights the situation is still serious.

The Government is carefully monitoring the actions of all water companies, and expect them to follow their drought plans, quickly fix leaks, and reduce demand.

Long-term resilience against our changing climate is a priority for this government. Our strengthened Water Bill will start a decade-long journey to a very different water system, including nine new major reservoirs to secure supplies.” 

Area Environment Manager for the Environment Agency in Yorkshire Vicki Townend said:

The Yorkshire area has had the 5th driest April to September on record. This ongoing lack of rainfall means the flow in rivers and groundwater levels in certain parts of our area are very low and have now reached our trigger for declaring a drought.