Drought 2026: What a Sixth Dry Month
Means for the Water Supply Chain

The Environment Agency's latest figures, published through Defra on 5 October 2026, confirm that September was the sixth month this year with below-average rainfall in England. Rainfall averaged 65% of the long-term average. The drought-affected east received 52%, the south east 57%, central England 59% and the south west 69%.

England's overall reservoir storage would normally be around 74.3% full at this point in the year. Instead, most reservoirs are below 50%. On 28 September, Ardingly Reservoir in West Sussex was at 23% of capacity and Wimbleball Reservoir in Somerset at 21%.

Why the pressure isn't easing

Cooler weather has reduced demand, but the Environment Agency says water use is still higher than expected for the time of year. Soils remain very dry. Without significant intervention, it expects reservoir storage to keep falling through the rest of the year, depending on rainfall and demand.

What government and regulators are doing

• Drought permits: the Environment Agency is working on 10 drought permit applications. These allow water companies to release less water into local rivers to protect public supplies. It has already granted South East Water a permit to support Ardingly Reservoir.
• Non-essential use ban: South East Water is applying for a non-essential use ban (NEUB). This would go further than a hosepipe ban, restricting some non-essential uses of mains water to keep more available for households.
• National Drought Group: now meeting weekly as part of a heightened incident response, bringing together government, regulators, the Met Office, water companies, farmers, the Canal & River Trust, anglers and conservation groups.
• Pressure on water companies: the Water Minister, Emma Hardy, has called on companies to conserve remaining supplies, fix leaks quickly, reduce demand and progress any contingency plans. Government and the Environment Agency say they are scrutinising companies' compliance with their statutory drought plans.
• Farmers: farmers can now start filling existing storage reservoirs from 1 October rather than 1 November (except in principal salmon river catchments and areas under section 57 restrictions). There is also a £65m drought support package, including up to £15m for on-farm reservoirs.
• Longer term: the government points to nine new reservoirs by 2050, plus desalination plants and water transfers, and £100m to strengthen capacity to respond to extreme weather and wildfires.

What it means for the supply chain

The actions above point to where demand for goods and services sits right now:

• Leakage detection and repair. Fixing leaks quickly is one of the minister's direct asks. Find leak detection specialists in the WIH supplier directory.
• Demand management. Hosepipe bans, a possible non-essential use ban in South East Water's area, and customer water-efficiency programmes all depend on metering, flow control and customer engagement. Affinity Water's live £10.4m flow regulator tender is one example on the live tenders page.
• Drought permits and environmental work. Each permit application involves assessing and monitoring the effect of lower river releases. That's work for hydrology, ecology and environmental monitoring consultants.
• Resilience and new resources. The nine planned reservoirs, transfers and desalination are long-term programmes. Thames Water has just shortlisted three consortia for the £5.7bn White Horse Reservoir main works. See the shortlist →

Source: Environment Agency figures and government statements released by Defra, 5 October 2026.