Low River Levels in UK Raise Concerns of Drought - EcoWatch
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Extremely low river levels in the UK have experts concerned about an impending drought. The UK is experiencing its driest spring since 1961.

Extremely low river levels in the UK recently have experts concerned about an impending drought.

The UK is also experiencing its driest spring since 1961, as BBC News reported.

According to data from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), the UK received just 43% of the average rainfall in March, and some rivers — including Mourne, Eden, English Tyne, Conwy and Welsh Dee — have hit their lowest levels ever recorded for the month of March this year.

River levels are expected to continue to remain low through May. Dry conditions and warm weather are also predicted for the next few months, according to UKCEH, prompting more concerns over a summer drought and how that will affect water supply.

“The dry start to May increases the likelihood that low to exceptionally low flows in some areas persist into the summer,” UKCEH reported.

In the UK, low river levels coupled with a lack of reservoir infrastructure puts water supply at risk. As The Guardian reported, there have been no new water reservoirs built in England for at least 30 years, so farmers and companies turn to rivers to draw water when reservoirs run low. When both run low, the demand will outpace supply.

In response, officials are considering water use restrictions, as The Guardian reported.

“This crisis was avoidable. But thanks to corporate greed and regulatory complacency, our reservoirs are running dry and our rivers are polluted with sewage,” James Wallace, CEO of the charity River Action UK, told The Guardian. “Rather than punish the culprits, customers have been told by government they will be fined £1,000 if they break a hosepipe ban. Yet again, the public will bear the costs of a failing water industry.”

A drought map by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre reveals that much of the UK and Ireland is already under a drought watch or warning. While officials have not formally announced a drought or water rationing, some farmers are already feeling the impacts.

“We are having a drought now from an agricultural point of view,” Nick Deane, a farmer based in Norfolk, told BBC News. “We have to ration our water and decide which areas we are going to put that water on in order to keep the crops growing.”

According to the European Commission, the drought risk applies to much of Europe following months of lower-than-average rainfall and higher-than-average temperatures, with northern and western Europe likely to experience continued dry conditions in June. The commission noted that the lower-than-usual river levels across Europe are already having a negative impact on agriculture, energy generation and transport.

Vegetation in some areas is already showing signs of stress, too, meaning the lack of rainfall is harming ecosystems. In the UK, wildfire events in the first four months of 2025 have already surpassed the amount of land burned more than any other year in over 10 years due to extended dry conditions.

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  • wewbull@feddit.ukEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    We seem to either be getting annual floods or annual droughts. That suggests to me that we’ve fucked up our water usage in the country. The window for having enough rainfall without some community having to get flooded out seems to have vanished.

    • Jim East@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
      3·
      1 day ago

      Deforestation is part of it. With continued climate change, such drought or flood events will only get more and more frequent outside of the equatorial region, with the most severe adverse weather events expected between 30°N and 60°N. The ocean will buffer the UK a bit from temperature extremes, but the inherent seasonality of the climate will still result in large variations in both temperature and precipitation. The temperature of the Atlantic Ocean is a major influence as well.

    • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought_in_the_United_Kingdom

      Droughts are a relatively common feature of the weather in the United Kingdom, with one around every 5–10 years on average. These droughts are usually during the summer, when a blocking high causes hot, dry weather for an extended period.[1]

      https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/joc.6521

      Overall, the drought of 1834–1836 was the most intense SPI-12 event in our reconstruction for England and Wales. Newspaper accounts and documentary sources confirm the extent of impacts across England in particular. We also identify a major, “forgotten” drought in 1765–1768 that affected the British-Irish Isles. This was the most intense event in our reconstructions for Ireland and Scotland, and ranks first for accumulated deficits across all three regional series. Moreover, the 1765–1768 event was also the most extreme multi-year drought across all regional series when considering 36-month accumulations (SPI-36).

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928_Thames_flood

      The 1928 Thames flood was a disastrous flood of the River Thames that affected much of riverside London on 7 January 1928, as well as places further downriver. Fourteen people died and thousands were made homeless when floodwaters poured over the top of the Thames Embankment and part of the Chelsea Embankment collapsed. It was the last major flood to affect central London, and, along with the disastrous North Sea flood of 1953, helped lead to the implementation of new flood control measures that culminated in the construction of the Thames Barrier in the 1970s.

      This produced the highest water levels ever recorded in the Thames in London.

      I don’t think that regular water level records on the Thames were kept until comparatively-recently, and it sounds like flooding problems were apparently worse from the sea, but it doesn’t sound like the present day sees the worst flooding or low river water levels.

      EDIT: Also:

      As The Guardian reported, there have been no new water reservoirs built in England for at least 30 years

      https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-faq/are-there-any-new-reservoirs-being-built-in-uk/

      Are There Any New Reservoirs Being Built in the UK?

      Yes, there are new reservoirs being built in the UK, although the pace of construction has been slow compared to the need. After decades of limited activity, several significant projects are now underway or planned to secure the country’s future water supply. The most prominent project currently under construction is the Havant Thicket Reservoir in southern Hampshire, which is expected to be the first in the UK to use recycled water technology. Additionally, there are plans for new reservoirs in Lincolnshire and the Fens (in partnership with Cambridge Water). These developments mark a shift in the UK’s approach to water infrastructure, acknowledging the growing need for resilient water sources amid climate change and population growth.

      The Havant Thicket Reservoir is a groundbreaking project, planned as a partnership between Portsmouth Water and Southern Water. It is not only a new reservoir but is also expected to be the first to integrate recycled water technology. This marks an innovative approach to water management in the UK, highlighting efforts to reduce reliance on traditional water sources. The reservoir received planning permission in late 2021 and main construction is scheduled to start in Spring 2024. It’s slated to open by 2029 and is considered the first large-scale new water storage facility to be built in the UK for over three decades.

      The last major public water supply reservoir to be constructed in the UK for water supply purposes was Carsington in 1991.

      So in the sense that there haven’t been any new major reservoirs completed in some decades, that’s true, but it does appear that there are some already being built that will be completed and ready for use.