This blog has been adapted from a post shared by Barbour EHS.

Despite the recent downpours, the Environment Agency have announced that without significant winter rain, there will be a drought in England next year.

The 2025 spring was the driest in 132 years, and the summer, the hottest on records since records began in 1884 leaves England in a vulnerable position.

The Droughts Prospects Report provides an outlook for water security in 2026. Whilst there has been recent rainfall, due to how severe the dry spring and summer have been, the winter rainfall needs to be at 100% of the long term average to make a true difference.

For a drought to be classed as officially over, water levels need to be fully replenished, with England having experienced below average rainfall for eight out of ten months so far this year, this does not indicate promising results.

What does this mean?

The Met Office has warned of a higher-than-usual likelihood of dry conditions from November to January. This could cause:

• Drought conditions to worsen
• Hosepipe bans
• Pressures on the environment
• Risk to crop yields

What can you do?

The Environment Agency has urged the public to use water efficiently over the festive period.

This could be:

• Using a watering can instead of a hose
• Using less water in your bath
• Shorter showers
• Fill your washing machine to its recommended load size to make sure you use water efficiently

Dry weather not only affects humans but also nature such as:

• The breeding of birds
• Migration patterns of eels and salmon
• Old trees becoming severely stressed

For more water saving tips, view our Water blog.