England water shortage: the race to secure future supplies
England is running out of water. Not next century, not next decade — but within years, possibly sooner if the droughts keep coming. Last summer’s heatwave left reservoirs at critically low levels across the south and east, and water companies were days away from implementing emergency rota cuts in some areas. The question now isn’t whether England faces a water crisis. It’s whether anyone will act fast enough to prevent one.
How bad is the situation?
The numbers are stark. The Environment Agency has warned that England could face a supply shortfall of between 4 and 5 billion litres per day by 2050. That’s roughly half the amount currently consumed by the entire country every single day. Southern Water, Thames Water and Anglian Water — all operating in the driest parts of England — have each recorded their lowest reservoir levels in over two decades during recent summers. Anglian Water’s Grafham Water reservoir, one of the largest in the UK, dropped to just 68% capacity last August, compared to a seasonal average of over 90%.
And yet new reservoirs remain unbuilt. The last large reservoir constructed in England was Carsington in Derbyshire, completed in 1992. More than thirty years ago.
Who is to blame?
That’s where it gets complicated. Water companies point to climate change, population growth and underinvestment by successive governments. Critics point straight back at the companies. Hosepipe bans were introduced last summer even as water firms reported hundreds of millions of litres lost daily through leaking pipes. Thames Water alone leaked an estimated 630 million litres per day — nearly a quarter of everything it pumped.
A senior official at the Environment Agency said the situation required “urgent and coordinated action from both industry and government, not just one or the other.” But that coordination has been conspicuously absent.
Ofwat, the industry regulator, approved below-inflation price increases for water companies throughout the 2010s, which critics argue starved the sector of infrastructure investment. Companies, meanwhile, paid out £1.4 billion in dividends in 2022 alone. It’s a combination that’s left pipes ageing and reservoirs scarce.
What’s the plan?
The government’s long-awaited Water Improvement Plan, published earlier this year, set targets for reducing leakage by 50% by 2050 and committed to a new reservoir in the south-east. But campaigners say 2050 is far too late. Southern Water has proposed a major desalination plant on the Thames Estuary that could produce 100 million litres per day, while several companies are exploring treated wastewater recycling schemes — technology already used in places like Singapore and Namibia.
Still, planning permission battles, funding gaps and public squeamishness about recycled wastewater are slowing progress at every turn.
Can England fix this in time?
Possibly. But only if the urgency matches the scale of the problem. Scientists are already modelling hotter, drier summers as the new normal for southern England, not the exception. Water companies have until around 2030 to have meaningful new infrastructure underway. That’s not much of a runway. And right now, the starting gun hasn’t even been fired.
