The declaration of drought in parts of England has shined a light on the woeful lack of government planning for such an eventuality.
Extreme weather conditions due to the growing climate crisis are 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.
