If you watched the last week of August from a window, you would have concluded the drought was over. Low pressure moved in, rain fell across most of England, and on 27 August the Environment Agency issued more than 40 flood alerts.
The Environment Agency’s report for 21 to 27 August 2026, published on 28 August, says otherwise. Nothing recovered. Several things got worse.
What the numbers actually did
Reservoir storage fell below 60%. England’s storage was 59.8% on 25 August, down 2.7 percentage points in a single week and 18.2% below average for the time of year. Nine reservoirs are now classed as having exceptionally low storage — two more than the week before. Clatworthy, Clywedog, the Dove Group, Blithfield, Hanningfield, Ardingly, Grafham, Rutland and Wimbleball are all on that list.
Groundwater kept falling. The seasonal recession continued at every site in England. Tilshead, in the Upper Hampshire Avon chalk, is now classed as exceptionally low; Jackaments Bottom in the Cotswolds remains so.
Rivers didn’t recover. Flows fell at 58% of monitored sites. Only 7% are normal for the time of year. Nineteen per cent are exceptionally low and a further 39% notably low.
The rain was regionally lopsided. For England as a whole, August rainfall to the 25th was 34% of the long-term average. In south-east England it was 15%. Weekly totals ranged from 6mm in the South East and South West to 23mm in the North East.
The Environment Agency also makes a point worth holding onto: after months of dry weather, rainfall on hard ground is less likely to soak in, which raises run-off. That is why flood alerts and a drought can share a day.
Two suppliers moved — and one of them is northern
Bristol Water announced a temporary use ban on 26 August, in force from 27 August, following an Environment Agency drought order application to protect flows on the River Severn. Around 30 million people in England now have restrictions on their water use.
More significant for anyone working outside the usual water-stressed belt: United Utilities’ Strategic Resource Zone entered drought level 1 on 26 August, after Haweswater reservoir storage fell below the trigger. Its Carlisle zone moved from drought level 1 to enhanced monitoring.
Formal Environment Agency drought status still covers 71% of England by land and did not change last week. But four areas — the North East, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire, and Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire — remain in prolonged dry weather, the stage before drought.
Abstraction is being squeezed accordingly. There are 1,412 restrictions on abstraction licences (a small improvement on the previous week), plus mandatory Section 57 spray irrigation reductions in East Anglia to 31 October cutting 288 licences by 50%, and 14 abstractors in the Wensum catchment required to stop entirely. Confirmed drought-related environmental incidents reached 266 for the year, up 40 in a week.
Why this matters for assessors and housebuilders
Water efficiency has, for years, been treated as a South East issue — the Part G optional requirement of 110 l/p/d showing up in Cambridgeshire, Sussex and the Thames Valley, and largely nowhere else. That framing is getting harder to defend.
Three things line up here.
The pending Part G reform. Defra has proposed cutting the baseline from 125 to 105 l/p/d, with the optional standard falling from 110 to 100. Water UK has backed it. The government response is still awaited, with implementation intended during 2026 and a six-month transition.
The August 2026 NPPF. Local plans may apply the tighter Part G optional requirement where justified, and exceptionally a more stringent local standard in areas of serious water stress. That is a test of local evidence — and the evidence base in the North West and Yorkshire looks different this year than it did two years ago.
Water neutrality and capacity evidence. NPPF policies W1 and W4 push development plans towards early engagement with water companies on supply, wastewater and drainage capacity. A supplier in drought level 1 is a supplier with a harder conversation to have about new connections.
None of this means northern authorities will adopt tighter standards this autumn. It does mean that if you are preparing a water efficiency calculation, a water neutrality statement or a capacity position for a site outside the traditional water-stressed areas, the assumption that “water isn’t an issue here” is worth checking rather than inheriting.
Three practical points
Check the optional requirement before you calculate, not after. Whether a site is 125 or 110 l/p/d is a planning-condition question, and the answer is increasingly local. Getting it wrong means recalculating a whole fittings schedule.
Keep the calculation auditable. Building Control wants the fittings schedule, not the headline number. Record the flow rates and capacities you actually specified, and note where they came from.
Watch for the Part G response. If 105 l/p/d lands with a six-month transition, schemes already through design will need a route to comply or to demonstrate transitional protection. Knowing where your current designs sit against 105 costs very little now and a great deal later.
The National Drought Group is now meeting weekly. Its next meeting was scheduled for 3 September.
Run the Part G calculation in minutes
WaterMonkey does the Part G water efficiency calculation in your browser — the official methodology, a full fittings schedule, and live PASS/FAIL against 125 or 110 l/p/d. Free to use, with a Building Control-ready PDF when you need one.
Sources: GOV.UK — Dry weather and drought in England: 21 to 27 August 2026 · GOV.UK — Dry weather and drought in England 2026: summary reports · Water Magazine — Water UK backs tougher water efficiency standards for new homes