The Environment Agency has published its drought plan guideline 2025 for water companies that are wholly or mainly in England - the companies are required to follow the guideline when preparing their drought plans. The drought plan guideline was last published in 2020.

The updated  guideline was written by the Environment Agency in collaboration with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

It provides technical guidance for water companies and New Appointments and Variations (NAVs) companies to follow when writing statutory water company drought plans. It also covers the requirements for water retailers.

Drought plans are operational plans which must show how water companies will provide a secure supply of water to customers and protect the environment during dry weather and droughts. The guideline says that a drought plan must:

• set out what actions the company will take before, during and after a drought
• how the company will assess the effects, including the environmental impacts of the actions and what the company will do to monitor and prevent or mitigate these effects.

However, the drought plan does not have to provide details of actions the company would need to take in a more severe drought (level 4) when it needs to implement emergency restrictions such as standpipes and rota cuts - this should be set in the company’s separate emergency plan for drought.

The water companies must comply with all the requirements set out in the legislation concerning drought plans as follows:

• Sections 39B and 39C of the Water Industry Act 1991 (as amended by the Water Act 2003 )
• Drought Plan Regulations 2005
• Drought Plan (England) Direction.

Companies appointed as a new water company or New Appointments and Variations (NAVs) companies, must submit their first draft drought plan within 6 months of the date of appointment. NAVs have the same legal duties and responsibilities as other water companies to produce drought plans.

While water retailers in the non-household water market are not required to prepare or publish their own drought plan, they must comply with Standard Licence Conditions published by Defra which require them to:

• provide information to water companies
• carry out reasonable instructions given to them during a drought by the relevant water company as specified in their drought plan

The guideline states that the water companies should develop their drought plans with reference to the following plans:

• the Environment Agency document ‘Drought: how it is managed in England’
• the company’s water resources management plan
• the company’s emergency plan for drought
• relevant regional water resources plans

The main changes to the water company drought plan guideline since it was last published in 2020 include:

• reflected lessons identified in respect of public water supply from recent dry weather or drought experience
• accounted for any legislative, regulatory or policy changes especially in respect to environmental requirements
• taken account of feedback on the guidance from government, regulators, the water companies and other relevant groups
• improved the presentation and clarity of the information in the guideline
• included expected ways of working between water companies, NAVs and water retailers
• included more details on a water company’s emergency plan for drought and how these plans relate to a company’s drought plan
• added references to the new annual drought plan health check
• added a new section on the further demand actions water companies could take to significantly reduce domestic demand

Click here to access the Water company drought plan guideline 2025 online

Click here to read an Expert Focus article by Antonin Fradin, Head of Smart Operations and Assets for SUEZ Digital Solutions, which takes an in-depth look at how organisations tackle drought in an era of growing water scarcity.