The 2022 drought
The driest summer in England since 1976, in which the National Drought Group declared drought across most of the country, several rivers ran dry at their heads, and a hosepipe ban covered around a third of the population.
Key facts
- Event type
- Drought
- Started
- 2022-03-01
- Ended
- 2022-10-31
Cause
A dry winter followed by the driest July in England since 1935 and a July heatwave that took UK temperatures above 40 °C for the first time on record, sharply raising evaporative demand at the moment soil moisture was already depleted.
Impact
- Drought declared across eleven of the fourteen Environment Agency areas
- Hosepipe bans affecting roughly 20 million people
- The source of the Thames moved several miles downstream as the headwaters dried
- Reduced crop yields and early harvest across arable England
Response
Temporary use bans by most southern and eastern companies, abstraction restrictions, and Environment Agency drought permits allowing reduced compensation flows.
Aftermath
Ofwat and the Environment Agency both pressed companies on leakage and on the slow progress of new resource schemes; the event is widely cited in the case for the reservoirs and transfer schemes now in the regulatory pipeline.
Relationships
- Located in: England
Related intelligence
Sources
- Peer-reviewed scientific literature — Open-access hydrology, water chemistry and water use research. Public but restricted · Publisher terms — public access, reuse not clearly granted