Drought spreads to Yorkshire, a drought permit for Wimbleball Reservoir, Pennon's £550m rights issue, Ofwat's chair reappointed ahead of a new regulator, and £539m of new water frameworks on Find a Tender.
9 October 2026. Yorkshire has moved into drought status after its fifth-driest April to September on record. It joins all of central, southern and eastern England, while the North East and North West remain in prolonged dry weather. The Environment Agency says recent rain is not yet enough to replace the water used over spring and summer.
The National Drought Group now meets weekly, and the Environment Agency says it is scrutinising water companies' actions against their drought plans and processing drought permit applications. It is the third drought in five years, after 2022 and 2025. Research cited in the announcement says England would need 120% of long-term average rainfall over the next seven months to be out of drought.
8 October 2026. The Environment Agency granted South West Water a drought permit for Wimbleball Reservoir on 2 October. The reservoir serves 390,000 people and held 18% of its total storage on 4 October, against 30% at the same time last year. The permit runs to 28 February 2027 and lets the company temporarily pause the normal compensation flow to the River Haddeo, provided it releases at least the same volume downstream to support abstraction from the River Exe for public supply.
South West Water has also applied to Defra for a non-essential use ban, which would restrict water use for some businesses across Mid Devon and parts of East Devon and Dorset. At the time of writing that is an application, not a ban in force.
7 October 2026. Pennon Group, owner of South West Water, is raising around £550m through a fully underwritten rights issue: seven new shares for every 15 held, at 250p each. The money goes towards a larger AMP8 programme, with capital expenditure now expected to total around £3.6bn, roughly £1bn above the original plan. The dividend for the year to March 2027 is being rebased, a cut of about 30% per share once the rights issue is taken into account. Shares fell by as much as 22% on the day.
For the supply chain, the extra capital points to more work being released in the South West over the rest of AMP8.
6 October 2026. Iain Coucher has been reappointed as Chair of Ofwat for a second term, which began on 1 October 2026. It runs until the government's new integrated water regulator is established, and no later than June 2029. Ofwat continues to operate with its existing powers during the transition.
6–9 October 2026. Five new water company frameworks went live on Find a Tender (values ex VAT):
All five are on the live tenders page.
7 October 2026. Vortex Companies has acquired the business and operating assets of Torrent Drainage Services, a UK trenchless rehabilitation contractor, adding field resources and technical capability to its McAllister business for UK rehabilitation projects. No value was disclosed.
Also on 7 October, Indigo Networks, owned by Arjun Infrastructure Partners, secured its first Ofwat licence to own and operate water and wastewater connections to new homes and businesses, adding water to its gas and electricity last-mile networks. It already operates connections to more than 218,000 homes and businesses.
Sources: Environment Agency, GOV.UK (9 October 2026); Environment Agency, GOV.UK (8 October 2026); Pennon rights issue coverage, Sharecast and Proactive Investors (7 October 2026); Defra and Ofwat via Water Magazine (7 October 2026); Find a Tender notices 095760, 095000, 095006, 095800 and 094342 (2026); Water Magazine (7 October 2026).
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