More England areas face drought as fifth heatwave nears 36C
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- National Drought Group meets Monday to assess conditions, with north-west England expected among newly declared drought zones; half of England and all of Wales are already in drought, and about 40% of England's population is under hosepipe bans.
- July was the driest since records began nearly 200 years ago, according to the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, with river flows declining rapidly across the UK and only catchments in the far north of Scotland remaining above normal levels.
- Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said Thursday looked set to be the hottest day of the week, with a small chance of temperatures exceeding 36C in some places — part of a fifth heatwave for the summer.
- UKHSA estimated 2,877 people died in the May and June heatwaves, putting England on track for its highest ever number of heat-related deaths in a single summer, with amber heat health alerts issued for eight English regions through Friday.
- South East Water warned customers supplies were "critically low" and they may lose supply unless demand drops, while Chessington World of Adventures theme park in Surrey was forced to close Monday from a water outage affecting the area.
- River Action found 14,128 commercial abstraction licences across England and Wales permit 43 trillion litres of extraction annually — more than seven times the 6 trillion litres abstracted by publicly owned water companies for public supply.
- Green party leader Zack Polanski accused Labour of "gross negligence" for failing to act over the heatwaves, calling this summer's heat "the greatest crisis this country has faced since the second world war," while Downing Street defended its response.
Why it matters: The drought declaration will likely extend hosepipe bans and emergency measures to a majority of England's population on top of the 2,877 heat deaths already recorded from May–June. Water utilities are already failing: South East Water says supplies are "critically low," and Chessington World of Adventures theme park closed Monday due to a water outage — concrete signs that the driest July in nearly 200 years has moved from policy debate to operational breakdown.
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