Restrictions on water abstraction licences in England halved in a week after Storms Austen and Boelo, but the Environment Agency says much of the country remains in drought, with dry, settled weather forecast to return.
The agency’s weekly drought report, published on 30 October, recorded 207 abstraction licence restrictions, down from 414 the week before. The previous week, the Environment Agency told Farmers Guide that 59% of restrictions, about 244, affected agricultural licences, concentrated in the Midlands, East Anglia, Kent, the South East and the South West. Reservoir storage across England stood at 57.9% on 27 October, 19% below average for the time of year, and ten reservoirs or groups remain exceptionally low, including Wimbleball in Somerset, Ardingly in West Sussex and Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire.
The week of 23 to 29 October was the wettest across England since October 2024, with rainfall ranging from 39mm in the east to 87mm in the south-west. October rainfall reached 111% of the long-term average. Even so, the report says soils remain drier than normal, and that England needs at least 120% of average rainfall over the next six months to emerge from drought by spring.
Parts of Devon, Cornwall, Wessex, Solent and South Downs, and Kent and South London remain in severe drought. East Anglia, Thames, the West and East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, and Yorkshire are in drought. Cumbria and Lancashire, and Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire moved into recovery on 28 October.
Farmers have filed 63 notifications to extend abstraction under the agency’s regulatory position statement RPS 382, 35 of them in East Anglia, and have made 42 requests for flexible abstraction to refill reservoirs early. Environment Agency chief executive Philip Duffy told Farmers Guide: “The recent rain is welcome, but the drought isn’t over. A few wet days cannot reverse months of hot, dry weather.”
Ten water companies still have hosepipe bans in force, and 414 drought-related environmental incidents have been confirmed this year, more than in 2022 or 2025. The government’s £65m drought package, announced in August, includes £15m for on-farm reservoirs. The National Drought Group meets on 4 November.
For rural businesses in the east and south-west, the winter refill will decide whether irrigated cropping, livestock watering and farm diversification plans can proceed normally in 2027.
