Monday, 5th of October, 2026

As Wales slowly starts to recover from the summer drought, Afonydd Cymru reflects on its position on the Welsh Government Drought Liaison Group and on how we need to get ready before the next one.  This summer has reinforced the need to focus on water resources as well as water quality, if we are to strengthen the resilience of Welsh rivers.

There are two types of drought: an environmental drought and a water company one.

An environmental drought, currently in place in Wales, is determined by NRW and is as a result of a prolonged lack of rainfall, a significant reduction in river flow and a likely impact to nature.

A water company drought, called for by water companies, is where supply to customers is impacted either by a shortfall of resources (groundwater, reservoirs and rivers) or because of distribution failure.  Welsh Water put a hosepipe ban in place in West Wales due to ‘sustained demand placing increasing pressure on the local water supply network’.

This poses some interesting questions. What is driving that demand? Is it high levels of garden watering? Did we fill too many paddling pools? Are the pipes too leaky? Are demand forecasts right? Are we assuming that customers will use water more wisely in a hot summer, when they won’t? Is this due to a lack of investment to meet continued demand for water and leakage? As summers get hotter and drier, are we willing to reduce our water usage and change our habits? How much are we willing to spend to protect our environment. All complex questions, and water companies aren’t the only people taking water from the environment during a summer.

NRW reported the sectors using water in their State of Natural Resources Report in 2025. They also showed that whilst the water industry has actually reduced its abstraction over the last five years, other sectors are increasing theirs.

NRW are the environmental regulator responsible for managing water resources in Wales. Their plans for managing water resources in Wales and determining water available for abstraction, the Catchment Abstraction Management Strategies (CAMS), have had no substantial updates since NRW separated from the Environment Agency in 2013, and do not consider how climate change might affect water availability over coming years.

And that only covers abstraction through the permitting process, which in Wales applies only to abstractions of more than 20,000 litres per day. As river levels declined across Wales this year, two unpermitted sectors were most impacted.  The first was private water supplies, often boreholes on rural properties that are not easy to reach with mains water.  The second was agricultural abstraction, often for livestock, which can be borehole or river abstractions.  This signals, therefore, that moving into the future pressure will be greatest from these abstractors at a time when rivers are lowest.  A resilient rural Wales will need much better management of our valuable water resource.

And that only covers abstraction through the permitting process, which in Wales applies only to abstractions of more than 20,000 litres per day. As river levels declined across Wales this year, two unpermitted sectors were most impacted.  The first was private water supplies, often boreholes on rural properties that are not easy to reach with mains water.  The second was agricultural abstraction, often for livestock, which can be borehole or river abstractions.  This signals, therefore, that moving into the future pressure will be greatest from these abstractors at a time when rivers are lowest.  A resilient rural Wales will need much better management of our valuable water resource.

This poses some interesting questions. What is driving that demand? Is it high levels of garden watering? Did we fill too many paddling pools? Are the pipes too leaky? Are demand forecasts right? Are we assuming that customers will use water more wisely in a hot summer, when they won’t? Is this due to a lack of investment to meet continued demand for water and leakage? As summers get hotter and drier, are we willing to reduce our water usage and change our habits? How much are we willing to spend to protect our environment. All complex questions, and water companies aren’t the only people taking water from the environment during a summer.

NRW reported the sectors using water in their State of Natural Resources Report in 2025. They also showed that whilst the water industry has actually reduced its abstraction over the last five years, other sectors are increasing theirs.

Whilst some private supplies are registered with Public Health Wales and local authorities, we actually have no complete record of these abstractions as they are unlicensed in Wales.  Welsh Government also supported the farming sector this summer to allow farm reservoir development, but as they are permitted development we aren’t keeping a record of them either.  We have, therefore, no idea how much water in total is coming from our vulnerable rivers during a drought.

Welsh Government made a commitment to the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources.  It is also poised to reform how it manages water in Wales.  2026 has been a sharp reminder that climate change and extremes of weather require a long-term National Plan for Water.  To be resilient, the rural economy in Wales depends on it, as do the great rivers of Wales.

Posted: 5th of October, 2026