Even with the wettish June we’ve been having, the spectre of drought is about this summer.
In the UK, an EA spokesman said: “The north west of England has entered drought status due to low water levels in reservoirs and rivers. No other areas in England are in drought and we continue to monitor the situation closely.”
Dr Neumann, associate professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, said: “Putting the North West into a drought status tells the water company they need to start putting into place their drought action plan.
That will include telling local people to use their water in a more conservative way, to be mindful.”
She added that without “steady, constant rainfall for a good couple of months” a hosepipe ban is “certainly on the horizon”.
