Where has a drought been declared, and what does it mean?

South-west Wales has become the latest part of the UK in which a drought has been declared.

It follows an unusually dry period and hot summer in many areas.

Where are the drought areas?

Along with a large part of South-west Wales, nine areas of England are in drought:

•  Devon and Cornwall

•  East Anglia

•  Herts and North London

•  Kent and South London

•  Lincolnshire

•  Northamptonshire and East Midlands

•  Solent and South Downs

•  Thames

•  Yorkshire

The Environment Agency (EA) says the West Midlands could also be declared a drought area in the near future.

Map showing drought areas in England and Wales

Separately, Northern Ireland Water has asked the UK government to put drought order measures in place.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has temporarily banned farmers in parts of Fife from using water from the River Eden on their fields.

•  Drought declared across large parts of England

•  Scottish agency issues water scarcity warning

What is a drought?

The Environment Agency decides whether to declare a drought after speaking with water companies, government officials and groups including famers' representatives.

It looks at data including rainfall, river flows, groundwater levels, reservoir levels, and the dryness of soils.

The EA's latest water situation report shows some river levels are the lowest ever recorded.

Graphic showing four ways to save water at home

What happens when a drought is declared?

Declaring a drought in a specific area does not oblige water companies to restrict water use.

However, it means they put into operation pre-arranged drought plans, which may include temporary use bans on things like hosepipes and lawn sprinklers.

Map showing areas with hosepipe bans, as of 17 August

Other possible options include:

•  taking more water than usual from rivers

•  using desalination plants, such as the one in London

•  cutting non-essential use of water beyond hosepipe bans

The EA is also urging water companies to act to reduce leakage from pipes as quickly as possible.

•  What are water companies doing to tackle leaks?

•  Why drought can lead to dangerous flooding

Why are there droughts in Britain this year?

In the first three months of the year, England's rainfall was down 26% while in Wales it was down 22%.

This meant that even before the summer had started, average river flows were "below normal" or "exceptionally low".

Chart plotting the top ten hottest UK days on record since 1900

In July, rainfall was a quarter of the normal level.

Overuse of water has made the situation worse. The government says over a quarter of the UK's underground water sources have too much water taken from them.

•  Driest July in England since 1935 - Met Office

What problems do droughts cause?

The effects of drought can include:

•  water polluted and fish killed

•  crop failure

•  wildfires

Berry farmers have reported losing some of their crop.

Vegetables such as potatoes are at particular risk because of their high-water content.

Farmers are delay planting crops for next year such as rapeseed because of the dry soil.

Sheep and lambs are suffering from undernourishment.

There have been multiple fires, with significant damage to homes and grasslands.

London Fire Brigade dealt with 340 grassland fires in the first week of August - eight times as many as they had to deal with in the same week last year.

Because of the high risk of wildfires, some shops have removed disposable barbecues from shelves.

Map showing areas of the UK at risk of fires because of the dry weather

In Surrey and Yorkshire, the Environment Agency has had to move fish from rivers which are drying up to and deeper and cooler waters.

What happened in the 1976 and 2018 droughts?

In 1976 and 2018 the UK had severe droughts lasting months, caused by a dry springs and very hot summers.

The government got emergency powers under the 176 Drought Act to turn off domestic and industrial water supplies.

In 2018, the drought led to crop failures, which raised food prices. Multiple water restrictions were imposed.

Could we see more droughts in the future?

The National Infrastructure Commission - which advises the UK government - says there could be more droughts in future because of population growth and climate change.

It has called for people to use less water and for water companies to let less of it leak away.

It's thought up to three billion litres of water are lost in the UK every day.

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