The Environment Agency (EA) is allowing farmers and growers in England whose abstraction licences authorise filling storage reservoirs for spray or trickle irrigation to take water outside their licensed period during October 2026. The change, set out in Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) 382, was announced at the National Drought Group meeting on 1 October and applies from 1 to 31 October 2026. The government said farmers could start filling from 1 October instead of 1 November.

The RPS comes with conditions. Licence holders must keep to the abstraction rate and any hands-off flow or level conditions in their licence, record daily volumes, keep records for six years and notify the EA by email before starting. Water taken under the RPS will not be charged and will not count towards the licence’s annual authorised volume, the EA said in a 7 October update. The RPS expires on 1 November 2026.

It does not apply in 18 East Anglian catchments under section 57 spray irrigation restrictions, including the Wensum, Yare and Deben, or in 43 catchments classed as principal salmon rivers, including the Wye, Severn, Test, Exe and Tyne. Licence holders there may still seek out-of-season abstraction through a site-specific assessment. The EA also said it would make it simpler for farmers to apply for longer-term abstraction licences, but has not published the details.

A drought that is “far from over”

September rainfall averaged 65% of normal across England, the sixth below-average month of 2026, with 52% in the east and 57% in the south east, according to the government’s 2 October release. Yorkshire entered drought status on 9 October, leaving 11 EA areas in drought, while the North East, Cumbria and Lancashire, and Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire remain in prolonged dry weather status.

In its weekly report for 2 to 8 October, the EA said England’s reservoir storage was 54%, 21% below average for the time of year, and that some farm storage reservoirs were reported at 0% to 20% capacity. There were 536 restrictions on abstraction licences, down from 767 a week earlier, and 1,383 voluntary restrictions reducing abstraction by 50%. Formal section 57 restrictions remain in parts of East Anglia until 31 October. The EA said it had received 42 flexible abstraction requests from the agriculture sector to date.

As the national drought group heard this week, continued below average rainfall means we all need to use water wisely. The drought is far from over.

Philip Duffy, Chief Executive, Environment Agency, 2 October 2026

The government also pointed to a £65 million package for drought-hit farmers, including up to £15 million to build on-farm reservoirs. The EA said about 120% of average rainfall over the coming seven months is needed for the whole country to be out of drought by next spring. According to FarmingUK, NFU deputy president Paul Tompkins welcomed the changes but warned they would not help everyone, as businesses in the most water-stressed areas may be excluded.

TAD’s reading

  • Irrigated growers: An extra month of fill matters most for businesses whose reservoirs are near empty, but the section 57 exclusions cover 18 East Anglian catchments, so the benefit is uneven.
  • Reservoir builders and lenders: Up to £15 million for on-farm reservoirs and the promised simpler longer-term licences point to more storage projects, though the licensing details are still to come.
  • Policy watchers: RPS 382 ends on 1 November; whether similar flexibility follows will depend on autumn and winter rainfall against the EA’s 120% benchmark.