Droughts do not happen that often, so it's important that we know how to react in order to protect public water supplies and the environment . Drought plans are essential for managing water resources and help water companies and the Environment Agency make the right decisions at the right time.
Water companies and the Environment Agency produce drought plans.
Our plans:
- outline how we will manage water resources during a drought and define our role and responsibilities;
- aim to reconcile the competing interests of the environment, the need for public water supply and other abstractions;
- show what additional environmental monitoring we will carry out;
- provide a framework for liaison with water companies, awareness campaigns and determination of drought permits;
- range from high-level activities where we co-ordinate our drought management over England and Wales to a local level where we outline specific operational activities.
We have recently updated and published our drought plans. These are the plans we are currently working to. We'll review them annually and update them when appropriate.
