East and West Midlands are latest regions officially in drought - which areas could be next?

The East and West Midlands are officially successful drought aft the driest commencement to a twelvemonth since 1976.

The 2 regions articulation the North West of England and Yorkshire, which person had drought presumption for respective weeks.

The determination by the government's National Drought Group makes it much apt that radical successful the areas volition beryllium affected by hosepipe bans.

Check the latest upwind forecast here

Currently, 8 cardinal radical person restrictions connected h2o use, oregon volition bash truthful successful the adjacent week.

Experts from the government, h2o companies and the Met Office judged that reservoir and stream levels successful the Midlands were good beneath normal, with nary important rainfall successful the forecast.

Nationally, reservoirs are connected mean conscionable 76% full, beneath the level of the terrible drought successful 2022.

But Howden reservoir successful Derbyshire is conscionable 39% full, with 3 heatwaves so acold this summertime rapidly draining supplies.

After the gathering by the authorities group, h2o curate Emma Hardy MP said: "We request to halt talking astir these being extreme weather events and commencement to judge that due to the fact that of clime change, things similar this are going to beryllium much normal.

"So arsenic for whether much companies volition present impermanent usage bans, that truly genuinely depends connected what happens with the upwind implicit the adjacent fewer months."

Read more: Extreme upwind 'becoming the norm' - arsenic curate warns UK's mode of beingness 'under threat'

The Environment Agency has drawn up a tenable worst-case script successful which England receives 20% little rainfall than mean and the upwind remains warm, but not blistery - acold from improbable.

In that case, the drought volition turn to see each regions down to Wessex, Hampshire and crossed to Cambridgeshire by the autumn.

The remainder of the state would beryllium successful a pre-drought presumption - officially called "prolonged adust weather" - isolated from Devon and Cornwall, which person had much rainfall implicit caller months.

But a h2o adept has told Sky News that mediocre readying by the authorities and h2o companies is besides to blasted for regions being affected by drought and hosepipe bans.

Professor Richard Ashley, of the University of Sheffield, said a nonaccomplishment to physique caller reservoirs, nexus up h2o grids crossed regions and hole leaks has undermined h2o information successful the look of adust weather.

"We bash person a mostly Victorian-based proviso system," helium said.

"A batch of our infrastructure is successful hopeless request of upgrading, and replacement of h2o mains is of the bid of erstwhile each 100 years successful this country, and that frankly is shocking.

"This is outdated reasoning and outdated infrastructure to header with problems of the present and the future."

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The past reservoir built successful the UK was successful 1992. Since then, the colonisation has grown by 12 million.

And h2o companies presently suffer 3 cardinal litres of h2o a time done leaks.

Even connected the time that the authoritative drought was expanded, a burst h2o main successful southbound London resulted successful a flood that closed schools and forced homes to beryllium evacuated