Warning England’s taps could run dry amid growing drought threat
Britain will face widespread water shortages unless the government takes decisive action against the growing threat of drought, a group of colleagues have warned.
The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee has highlighted that the country’s water infrastructure is under increasing pressure from climate change, population growth, significant public water supply leakage and the demands of water-intensive industries.
In a report published on Thursday, the cross-party committee highlighted that although the UK is not short of rainfall, it needs to vastly improve the way it stores, manages and reuses water.
Ministers were asked to encourage greater water reuse and rainwater harvesting among the public, launch targeted awareness campaigns and improve water efficiency standards in homes.
These measures form part of a “whole of society approach” that aims to balance supply and demand to prevent both drought and floods as the effects of global warming intensify.
The warning comes after the Environment Agency warned that Britain could face public water shortages of 5 billion liters per day – a volume equivalent to 2,000 Olympic swimming pools – by 2055.
The country is already seeing an increase in drought conditions; Nationwide water scarcity in 2025 is being declared a “nationally significant event” based on the number of areas affected and the widespread damage to the environment and agriculture.
Dry conditions have negatively impacted crop yields, affected the reproductive patterns of some animals, damaged wetlands and river ecosystems, increased the risk of wildfires, and led to cyclone bans in many regions.
Committee chair Baroness Sheehan said: “Climate change is increasing the risk of drought due to hotter summers and heavier winter rains, and capturing and storing rainwater is becoming increasingly important.
He said the 2025 experience sent “a warning signal to the water and drought management system,” saying the country is off to a dry start to spring 2026 and the world is facing a wave of warmer “El Niño” weather conditions later this year.
“The government must act now to secure Britain’s most vital resource for the future and work with the public to ensure the taps are not left running dry,” he added.
In its report, the committee recommended that the government should develop a more comprehensive understanding of threats to the UK’s water security.
To do this, it must improve impact data and drought monitoring, as well as conduct a full environmental and economic assessment weighing the costs of inaction against drought resilience investments.
The report stated that changes to regulations could help direct sectors that depend on taking water from the environment to increase resilience to drought.
The group said this could help facilitate the construction of local spring reservoirs for places like farms and golf courses and increase the system’s flexibility in issuing licenses to better support water supply projects.
Ministers should also publish a prioritization plan for emergency drought by autumn 2026 at the latest and introduce nature-based solutions more widely in urban and rural settings, experts said.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been approached for comment.
