Natural Resources Wales declared drought in north Wales and the Upper Severn on Thursday as Cardiff weather conditions stayed tied to a wider dry spell across Wales. The agency said the change follows record-low river flows, and July is on course to be the driest on record in Wales for nearly 200 years.
Rhian Thomas, the sustainable water and nature manager at Natural Resources Wales, said: “We have seen rivers fall to exceptionally low levels, groundwater continuing to decline, and increasing reports of environmental impacts affecting wildlife, fisheries, farming and sensitive habitats.”
Natural Resources Wales and July
The two areas now in drought have received less than 2% of the expected rainfall for the month so far. Natural Resources Wales said the hot and dry spell was having serious impacts on the environment across Parts of Wales, and the status covers north Wales and the Upper Severn.
The rivers Clwyd, Alwen, Alyn, Clywedog, Dyfi and Conwy in north Wales, along with the Wye, have recorded new monthly minimum flows or are approaching record lows. That gives the declaration a practical basis: the shortage is showing up in river levels, not just in rainfall totals.
Rhian Thomas on wildlife
Thomas said: “The recent wildfires across north Wales and south-east Wales are one of the clearest and most visible signs of how dry our landscapes have become.” Natural Resources Wales announced last week that north and south-east Wales were moving to prolonged dry weather status, which put the current drought declaration on top of already strained conditions.
Natural Resources Wales measures drought as a combination of indicators showing a significant shortage of rainfall and water availability, with effects on rivers, groundwater, ecosystems, agriculture and land management. In practice, that means the declaration is aimed at the parts of Wales already showing pressure in those systems, rather than the whole country at once.
Welsh Water and west Wales
The picture is not uniform. Welsh Water has implemented a hosepipe ban in parts of west Wales even as it says reservoir levels remain healthy overall, which shows how local restrictions can move ahead of a wider regional declaration. About 23 million people will have been banned from using hosepipes by this weekend.
Across England, the National Drought Group said on Monday that parts of southern, central and eastern England were in prolonged dry weather. England has received only 3% of its long-term average July rainfall, and the south and east of England had received no rain so far in July.
For people in Wales, the immediate change is that north Wales and the Upper Severn are now formally in drought, while other parts of the country remain in prolonged dry conditions. The key pressure points are the rivers, the groundwater and the land uses that depend on them, and those are the conditions Natural Resources Wales is tracking now.
