News

Drought or no drought?

There is still a drought in the South East despite rainfall being above average levels last month, according to the Environment Agency. 

Experts have stressed the need to continue to save water. Met Office figures show that rainfall in south-eastern and southern England was 36% above average in November.  

One expert told the BBC that recent rainfall levels would have to continue every day between now and the end of February to cancel out the long term dry spell.  

The Environment Agency confirmed that recent rain had started to seep down but that these type of conditions were required for the whole of the winter for stocks to fully recover. 

 Spokeswoman Lisa Beechey said: "Just because it's raining doesn't mean the drought is over.  "Water companies should not remove their hosepipe bans until they are confident that their water resources position is recovering so that - for example - they are in a good position to deal with next summer."  

She added: "Despite the rain or hosepipe bans, we still need people and businesses to continue to use water wisely. We should all save water regardless of whether it's raining or not."  Most reservoirs are average or above average for the time of year, with levels in most of the reservoirs in south-east England having sharply increased over the past two to three weeks in response to the wet weather.