Drought: how it is managed in England
How the Environment Agency works with government, water companies and others to manage water resources during a drought in England.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
This document sets out:
- the impacts of drought in England
- who is involved in planning, managing and responding and how we work together
- the actions we and others take to effectively manage droughts
- how we report on drought and communicate with others
- our role in recovery and learning from drought events
Related publications include:
- Water situation reports for England
- Water resources planning: managing supply and demand
- Drought: how water companies plan for dry weather and drought
- Water company drought plan guideline, 2025
Area drought plans
Environment Agency area drought plans are available on request from their National Customer Contact Centre.
General enquiries
National Customer Contact Centre
PO Box 544
Rotherham
S60 1BY
Email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk
Telephone 03708 506 506
Telephone from outside the UK (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm GMT) +44 (0) 114 282 5312
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Updates to this page
-
We have updated our strategic overview of drought management in England. The document 'Drought response: our framework for England' has been replaced by 'Drought: how it is managed in England'.
Update history
2026-04-08 16:51
Following the drought of 2025, we have reviewed and updated our ‘Drought: how it is managed in England’ document to ensure it is still fit for purpose and reflects the events of the 2025 drought. Key changes include a summary of 2025 drought, updated facts and figures, lessons from 2025 and minor updates throughout.
2025-09-23 11:59
Updated section 2.6 Private water supply mitigations to reflect current guidance.
2025-06-03 10:32
We have updated our strategic overview of drought management in England. The document ‘Drought response: our framework for England’ has been replaced by ‘Drought: how it is managed in England’.