{"id":1194917,"date":"2026-09-09T10:47:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T10:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1194917\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T10:47:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T10:47:34","slug":"the-100000-homes-at-risk-of-water-rationing-this-winter-after-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1194917\/","title":{"rendered":"The 100,000 homes at risk of water rationing this winter after drought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost 100,000 homes<\/a> in Sussex<\/a> face having their taps turned off<\/a> this winter if the region does not see heavy rainfall<\/a> in the coming months.<\/p>\n

South East Water<\/a> (SEW) has warned the Government that there is a \u201crealistic threat of a serious deficiency in supply\u201d in an area that includes the major towns of Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and East Grinstead.<\/p>\n

The firm has submitted an application for a drought permit to allow it to conserve water in Ardingly Reservoir, which has fallen close to critical levels due to the exceptionally dry weather<\/a> and successive heatwaves<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n

Without this, about 95,000 homes could require \u201crota cuts and standpipes\u201d if the region does not experience significant rain<\/a> in the coming months, South East Water warned the Environment Agency.<\/p>\n

If granted, there would be a temporary relaxation of the environmental rules that dictate SEW release water from the reservoir to maintain levels in the River Ouse.<\/p>\n

Worst drought since 1976<\/p>\n

An analysis of 155 years of rainfall data by SEW found 2026 was the second driest summer in the River Ouse catchment, surpassed only by 1976<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The summer of 1976 saw widespread water shortages and restrictions across England, including the use of standpipes in some areas. <\/p>\n

Britain has not experienced such severe restrictions since that year. However, the latest documents from SEW show some areas are now coming close.<\/p>\n

Much of England and all of Wales are currently in drought<\/a>. While most areas have experienced unsettled weather in recent weeks, far more rainfall is needed to reverse the impacts of the dry summer.<\/p>\n

SEW has said Ardingly Reservoir could enter \u201cred level\u201d drought status within the coming weeks even if Sussex receives its average level of rainfall. As of Friday the reservoir was at 34.8 per cent total capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cRed\u201d is the final level before emergency measures such as standpipes are introduced. It means water companies must take all other action possible to avoid this scenario, such as further restrictions on businesses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If the region receives less than 60 per cent of its average rainfall over the coming months, Ardingly will remain at red level for the rest of this year, and could enter an \u201cemergency storage\u201d situation by the end of September, South East Water said.<\/p>\n

In a \u201cworst case scenario\u201d of the region receiving less than 40 per cent of its average rainfall, the reservoir will remain at red level into spring next year and would also enter an \u2018emergency storage\u2019 situation around the end of this month, SEW said.<\/p>\n

The affected area of Sussex has received 43 per cent of its average rainfall since March this year, meaning this \u201cworst case scenario\u201d would be a continuation of what has seen seen.<\/p>\n

\"ADry fields in the area surrounding Ardinly Reservoir (Photo: Carlos Jasso\/Reuters)<\/p>\n

Fish deaths and \u2018sewage fungus\u2019<\/p>\n

It is now up to the Environment Agency<\/a> to determine whether South East Water should be granted permission to reduce releases from the reservoir into the Ouse.<\/p>\n

The company acknowledges doing so will trigger environmental impacts<\/a> on the river including fish deaths and \u201cincreased growth of algae and sewage fungus\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, it argues that doing nothing would also have an adverse impact on the Ouse and that conserving water in the reservoir is the best option for customers and the environment.<\/p>\n

Water firms \u2018not doing enough to fix leaks\u2019<\/p>\n

Water companies have been criticised for not doing enough to make their regions resilient to drought<\/a>, for example by fixing leaks or building more reservoirs.<\/p>\n

In its drought permit application, SEW states that its leakage levels are currently 15.5 per cent above target and have become worse this summer as dry soil has caused more burst pipes.<\/p>\n

Towns across Sussex and Kent have experienced multiple water cuts<\/a> in recent years due to failures in SEW\u2019s network.<\/p>\n

A damning report by MPs<\/a> on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, published in April, described the company\u2019s previous leadership team and board as a \u201cunaccountable clique\u201d.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for South East Water said: \u201cWe applied to the Environment Agency for a drought permit to help manage the water resource situation in Sussex.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe permit was applied for as we experienced less than half of the expected rainfall between March and August 2026 in our Sussex region, which is where we have two surface water storage reservoirs. This has resulted in the water levels in both reservoirs falling to a low level, particularly Ardingly Reservoir.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: \u201cThe drought permitting process balances the needs of local water users with important environmental protections.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect water companies to follow drought plans and apply for permits in good time to secure supplies for their customers and ensure that appropriate mitigations are in place to protect the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost 100,000 homes in Sussex face having their taps turned off this winter if the region does not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1194918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3843],"tags":[4174,46000,728,70,872,16,15,6507,20259,59345],"class_list":["post-1194917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-climate-crisis","tag-drought","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-sussex","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-water","tag-water-shortage","tag-winter"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117240690630732236","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1194917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1194917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1194917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1194918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1194917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1194917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1194917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}