More than half of England in drought, Environment Agency declares

Dorset is just one of the areas declared to be in drought on Wednesday

Drought has been declared across more than half of England as hot, dry weather takes its toll on the country's water supplies.

The Environment Agency (EA) announcement covers much of central, eastern and southern England, and is a public sign that further restrictions on water use might follow.

It added that the impacts are already being felt, including low river flows, early harvests and high risk of wildfires. More than 20 million people are already under hosepipe bans.

North Wales and the Upper Severn river basin entered drought conditions last week, Natural Resources Wales said.

Scotland does not declare drought but monitors "water scarcity". Some parts of eastern Scotland are in the most extreme category of "significant scarcity", according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

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Wessex, covering Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, and South Gloucestershire

There is no single definition of drought, but it usually refers to a period of prolonged unusually dry weather that can have impacts on people, nature and the environment.

The EA considers all of these factors before deciding whether to declare a drought in England.

The declaration is a public sign that the EA is stepping up its response to the dry conditions, including increased monitoring and controls on how much water can be taken from rivers and groundwater.

It can mean hosepipe bans being introduced if they are not already in place.

"The hot and dry weather means we are currently using water faster than nature can replenish it," said Helen Wakeham, director of water at the Environment Agency and chair of the National Drought Group.

This year's drought is somewhat unusual because January and February were very wet for much of the UK, helping to replenish reservoirs and groundwater.

But late spring and summer have been exceptionally hot and dry. The quick switch between wet and dry conditions is sometimes called "climate whiplash".

In particular, July has seen 7% of the average levels of rainfall in England so far, with just 1% across southern England. Some parts of Devon and Hampshire have gone more than a month without rain.

"The warm and exceptionally dry conditions experienced across much of England over recent months are continuing to have a significant impact," said Will Lang, chief meteorologist at the M