Prospects for winter refill of irrigation reservoirs and drought forecast for 2026

Explores England’s drought prospects for 2026, setting out the different scenarios, risks, potential impacts and mitigating actions each sector will need to take.

You can read the full prospect report on gov.uk. This includes projections for drought for other sectors including environment and water company positions under the same scenarios. 

This report sets out the possible impacts next spring of a dry autumn and winter for sectors including: 

• government and Environment Agency

• public water supply

• agriculture and horticulture

• environment

• navigation

• other sectors such as energy, leisure and forestry 

It explores the actions to be taken to prepare for the possibility of a dry winter and to reduce the risk of drought impacts next year where possible. This report covers England only.