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Environmental drought has officially spread into the Midlands and southwest England but public water supplies are unlikely to be affected.
The Environment Agency is warning shortages could last until Christmas or beyond and cause problems for wildlife and farmers.
There is not expected to be any extension of the hosepipe ban currently in force for customers of seven companies in southeast England and East Anglia.
Trevor Bishop, head of water resources at the Environment Agency, said: “A longer term drought, lasting until Christmas and perhaps beyond, now looks more likely.
“While we’ve had some welcome rain recently, the problem has not gone away, and we would urge everyone – right across the country – to use water wisely now, which will help to prevent more serious impacts next year.”
Wessex Water said it would increase the amount of water it adds to certain streams to mitigate the risk of harm to ecosystems.
Head of water resources Luke de Vial said: “We have 18 locations where we operate ‘stream support’, as part of the conditions of our abstraction licences.
“Over the coming months we will increase how much water we pump into streams, but this will not impact on customer supplies which are currently sufficient.”
Severn Trent, South West Water, South Staffs Water and Bristol Water have also reassured customers they do not expect to impose restrictions, but asked them to use water wisely.
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