Southern Water has applied to the Environment Agency a for drought permit to protect the River Test due to the threat of a serious deficiency of water supplies in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight water supply areas.

Southern Water will show that the threat of a deficiency of water supply relates to an "exceptional shortage of rainfall" within its drought permit application.

The water company is concerned that the deficiency could lead to the River Test flow receding to the level limiting abstraction within Southern Water’s abstraction licence.

Under the terms of the licence, Southern Water is allowed to abstract a maximum quantity of 29,200 Megalitres per year, 80 Megalitres per day or 3.5 Megalitres per hour, subject to the Total Test Flow (TTF) remaining above the Hands-off Flow (HoF) of 355 Megalitres per day.

The proposed drought permit will involve an amendment to the Licence to reduce the HoF condition from a TTF of 355 Megalitres per day to 265 Megalitres day. If granted, the proposed drought permit, will allow Southern Water to continue to abstract water to the lower HoF in the River Test.

The water company said the water is necessary to secure the supplies of water made available to the public and to commercial users.

The Environment Assessment Report has indicated that potential ecological impacts on the River Test SSSI are uncertain. A monitoring and mitigation programme has been agreed the Environment Agency and Natural England, with advice from the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust to mitigate the uncertainty. The Environment Agency will decide by the end of Friday 29th July whether a public hearing should be convened for the purpose of considering objections.

Deadline to submit objections to the Environment Agency is by the end of Wednesday 27th July.