Current situation
Spring 2025 across England was the driest since 1893 with all areas receiving well below average rainfall.
The dry spring has seen exceptionally low river flows experienced across northern and central England. Recent rainfall at the start of June had helped increase river flows briefly but these have quickly receded, and soils are much drier than expected across most of England. Further information can be found in our Water situation reports for England.
In light of the dry spring, there has been a greater demand on farm irrigation reservoirs especially where there have been restrictions on abstraction licences, impacting on surface water abstractions, due to low river flows. The early start of the irrigation season and increased demand on reservoirs has caused a depletion in storage capacities over the spring. Should the dry weather continue over the summer, this may cause resilience issues for irrigators where storage reservoirs are currently low.
Dry weather impacts are being observed across the sector such as reduced growth on crops that do not have access to irrigation and less well-established spring crops. Impacts have also been reported on the livestock sector, particularly where there are issues with reduced grass growth which could impact on winter feed supplies later in the year.
Our updated spray irrigation report for the summer has been published which confirms a further deterioration in the forecast since the Spring. More information on the current position and support available for farmers to help with water supplies and resilience can be found here.
What support is available from the Environment Agency to support irrigators this year?
The Environment Agency is working closely with farmers and growers to help secure water this summer. If irrigators believe that they may not be able to comply with their abstraction licence or have issues accessing water supplies, please contact the Environment Agency as soon as possible. There are several short and long-term options available to improve farmers and growers access to water and increase resilience for the summer and beyond. Some of these options include:
Short term
- Short term options are available to improve your access to water outside of your licence conditions. Further information can be found in the Environment Agency guidance water abstraction during prolonged dry weather and drought. The Environment Agency will talk to you about short-term options for improving your access to water outside the conditions of your licence.
- Consider water rights trading between licence holders to improve access to water supplies. Our updated guidance can be found on gov.uk which includes a link to Help for Water Rights Trading Data and further link to a water rights trading map.
- An Environment Agency Regulatory Position Statement is available that covers information on when you can abstract water outside of the conditions of your abstraction licence during a flood warning
- Our update irrigation report for the summer is now available which will help plan or make any necessary adjustments for remainder of the growing season.
- The Environment Agency is holding regular meetings of the National Drought Group, to update members, including the National Farmers Union, on the latest dry weather situation, and implementing actions to support farmers to plan their water needs over the summer.
Long term
- The Environment Agency launched Local Resource Option (LRO) Screening Studies to support groups of farmers in identifying practical, local solutions to improve their long-term water resilience. A new round of LRO screening applications is now open and more information can be found at How to apply for a local water resources options screening study- GOV.UK
- Supporting the establishment of Water Abstractor Groups to better enable water rights to be shared and for jointly owned infrastructure to be developed
- Investing in Smart Farming technology. This is a funded trial conducted in two river catchments in East Anglia and involve installing sensors and telemetry to monitor water flow and manage abstraction sharing. This will use new technologies to monitor water flow and abstraction, maximising water availability.
- Recently, we have published our updated National Framework for Water Resources setting out our expectations for regional water resources groups to ensure that the agriculture sector is adequately represented in water resources and drought planning.
Additionally, our water transfer schemes that help maintain river flows and groundwater are in operation this summer to help support wildlife and facilitate abstraction. We are also carrying out irrigation patrols and other compliance checks to ensure all abstractors are complying with their licence conditions to help protect water availability.
Top tips to for irrigators during prolonged dry weather
- Assess your current water situation and take action to ensure there is enough supply for the remainder of the growing season.
- Review abstraction licences to ensure that they still meet their needs to comply with conditions and meet future requirements.
- Continue to follow good irrigation practice such as prioritising night-time irrigation, reducing leaks and avoiding windy conditions.
- Engage and communicate with customers to give them early information on quality/yield implications.
- Take advantage of significant rainfall events when flows/levels rise above hands off levels allowing a return to abstraction.
- Sign up to managing your water abstraction or impoundment licence online. This will allow you to submit abstraction returns and view your licence information. Some licence holders will also have access to water abstraction alerts by email ‘e-alerts
- Review cropping, crop varieties and rotation plans for next year taking account of possible limited water availability using tools such as D-Risk to rapidly understand local drought and abstraction risks and thereby support robust decisions.
- Review plans for longer term investment such as reservoirs for future resilience and securing additional backup storage for livestock where farms are on mains water or boreholes. Consider any future funding that becomes available to increase productivity and support your business
Further information on water abstraction during prolonged dry weather and drought can be found on our guidance pages.
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