In a country famed for its rain, it seems almost absurd to talk about running out of water. Yet across England, particularly in the South East, water scarcity is placing a severe constraint on our environment, our economy and our ability to build the homes and infrastructure the country needs.
This year, the UK experienced the hottest and driest spring on record. Farmers were hit hard, with losses estimated at £800 million. In my local area of West Sussex, Ardingly Reservoir recently fell below 30% capacity, when it would normally be closer to 70% full. As climate change drives longer dry spells followed by intense rainfall, our outdated infrastructure is failing to capture water when it is available and store it for when it is not.
Last week, I held a Westminster Hall debate on water scarcity, calling for a coordinated national approach. MPs from constituencies across the UK echoed concerns about the growing scale of the problem. In her response, the Water and Flooding Minister, Emma Hardy, acknowledged that water scarcity has not received the attention it needs, promising action on leakage reduction, support for farmers and improvements to building regulations. I hope her words translate into proposals that truly match the scale of this challenge.
Without decisive action, the National Infrastructure Commission warns that England could face a daily supply gap of almost five billion litres by the middle of the century, equivalent to the needs of 30 million people. Demand is rising fast, not just from population growth but from new pressures that are often poorly reflected in planning. Water use from data centres, energy infrastructure and industry is accelerating rapidly.
A single one-megawatt data centre can consume around 26 million litres of water a year for cooling alone, placing a significant additional strain on already stretched supplies.
At the same time, we continue to waste water at an astonishing rate. Around a fifth of all water entering the system is lost through leaks before it reaches homes or businesses. River abstraction has increased from around 40% to 61% of environmental water use since the early 2000s, with devastating consequences for chalk streams. Forty per cent of groundwater bodies are now over-extracted, and only 16% of England’s rivers are in good ecological condition.
Water scarcity is no longer a niche environmental concern. It is acting as a major brake on economic growth. Housing is one of the clearest examples. The government has set a target to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament, but that ambition will not be delivered without addressing the water crisis. Research suggests more than 60,000 homes could become undeliverable during this Parliament due to water constraints, representing over £25 billion in lost value.
Horsham has experienced these impacts first-hand. For four years, water neutrality rules have blocked any development that increases demand by even a single litre. Natural England imposed this requirement overnight, only for it to be abruptly removed four years later. Both decisions caused damaging whiplash in our local planning system, leaving us without proper protections, exposed to speculative development and no closer to securing actual water capacity.
The rural economy faces equally pressure. Farmers, vineyards, garden centres and nurseries are all dependent on reliable access to water, yet many are constrained by outdated abstraction rules, complex planning processes and insufficient grant schemes. One garden centre reported that footfall fell by 20% and it lost £300,000 the last time drought measures were imposed in its region.
As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Business, I regularly hear from farmers who have suffered ruinous losses during drought periods. Increased water capture and storage is an obvious solution, but too many obstacles still stand in the way.
So, what should we do? We need practical, efficient and enforceable water standards for homes, alongside retrofit incentives for existing housing stock, where the biggest efficiency gains can be made. For farming and horticulture, we should introduce new permitted development rights for small and medium reservoirs, supported by more flexible winter abstraction rules. We must also prioritise nature-friendly farming and soil health, as healthy soils can hold up to 350,000 litres of water per hectare, reducing the risk of both drought and flooding.
Above all, we need national leadership. Responsibility for water is fragmented across multiple regulators and departments, with no single body accountable for long-term resilience. The National Audit Office warns that this fragmentation breeds inertia, leaving nearly £20 billion in essential infrastructure unfunded. A single national water strategy is long overdue.
Access to water underpins everything. We have a choice to act now or sleepwalk into further crisis.
