Why is Britain not better prepared for this drought?

Editorial: Our water resources are creaking – the government must step in

(Dave Brown)

The declaration of drought in parts of England has shone a light on the woeful lack of government planning for such an eventuality.

Extreme weather because of the growing climate crisis is sadly no longer a new phenomenon, and so this very dry summer should hardly have come as a surprise. Indeed, the government’s Climate Change Committee has been banging the drum about its inevitability.

In 2018, the Commons environmental audit committee criticised the government for diluting its water efficiency ambitions and called for a “water-saving culture” because the climate crisis is speeding up the frequency and severity of heatwaves.