Parts of the UK move closer to drought

Dry, cracked earth is already evident in some parts of the UK, such as here in Cambridgeshire

Parts of southern, central and eastern England are now close to drought, according to the National Drought Group, external.

As of Monday, East Anglia, the West Midlands, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire and London, Wessex, Thames, Solent and the South Downs, are in "prolonged dry weather", the stage before drought.

The group, which brings together the Met Office, the National Farmers' Union, water companies and other expert bodies, made the announcement on Tuesday.

It comes as a further 10.1 million people are to be impacted by a hosepipe ban, as Thames Water announces a hosepipe ban for all its customers from Thursday.

The latest announcement means that more than 20 million people will be living under hosepipe bans by the end of this week. Agriculture and wildlife are also experiencing consequences.

Drought - simply defined as a lack of water - has no official threshold criteria, but the National Drought Group will assess conditions to decide if one should be declared.

This assessment will consider lack of rainfall, impacts on agriculture and wildlife, the likelihood of wildfires, and low reserves of water and river levels.

As well as a lack of rainfall, a contributory factor is high temperatures which evaporate water from soil. It can be influenced, too, by human activity such as deforestation, intensive farming and excessive consumption.

According to the Met Office, external, unlike most other extreme weather, drought tends to build up over time and can last from as little as a few weeks to several years.

There is pressure on public water supplies with demand increasing by up to 30% on the hottest days this July. Seven water companies have implemented or announced future hosepipe bans to reduce the strain on treatment works and storage during peak demand.

A hosepipe can use a thousand litres of water an hour, more than a family of four will use in a day.

Farmers have had to begin their harvests early and there have been warnings that cereal yields may be affected by the lack of rain.

Farmers and growers are "working around the clock to harvest crops which have come early, keep fruit and vegetables watered, and care for their livestock", according to Paul Tompkins, deputy president of the National Farmers' Union.

"Parts of the country, particularly in the east and south, have seen exceptionally low rainfall this spring and summer," he said, which could mean, "another difficult and expensive