West Midlands, South East Wales and parts of Mid Wales enter drought

Three more areas entered formally entered drought last week: the Environment Agency added the West Midlands to its list, taking the total to 10 of 14 English areas. Natural Resources Wales confirmed that South East Wales and parts of Mid Wales had also moved into drought, with the following areas affected: Upper Severn, Wye, Usk, Valleys (Taff, Ebbw, Rhymney, Ely) and Vale of Glamorgan (Thaw).

Meanwhile the National Drought Group turned its attention to planning for the longer term: both 2023 in the event of a dry autumn and winter, and in the decades ahead.

The Group’s Water Supply Sub-Group will lead the work on planning for 2023, reporting back on progress in October, with the Environment Agency to lead an exercise in December to test plans. Defra also reported the NDG had “agreed to intensify work to meet or beat” the targets set out in the National Framework for Water Resources for 2050, which include halving leakage, cutting demand to an average 110 litres per head a day, bringing new supply sources on stream and increasing drought resilience to the 1:500 standard.

The National Framework’s Strategic Steering Group will meet this month to identify ways to accelerate progress. The Defra statement noted: “A central element will be Ofwat’s 2024 Price Review which will set levels of water investment until 2030.”