Drought Plan
Droughts are natural events caused by a prolonged period of low rainfall, often over several months. As a statutory requirement, we update our Drought Plan every five years. Our existing Drought Plan (2022) covers the period up to 2027.
We have now published our new draft Drought Plan for 2027-2032 and are seeking your feedback as part of an 11-week public consultation. The consultation will remain open until 2 August 2026.
The draft plan sets out how we will continue to provide reliable water supplies during periods of drought, whilst protecting the environment across the 2027-2032 planning period, building on lessons learnt from previous droughts. We would particularly welcome feedback on a number of specific questions, which can be found on our online consultation form.
In addition, we welcome general comments on the draft plan.
General feedback should be emailed to both:
Please use the subject line:
“United Utilities’ draft drought plan consultation”.
Alternatively, written feedback can be sent by post to:
Drought Plan Consultation
Defra
Drought
Seacole, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Some information has been excluded from the draft Drought Plan 2027, such as details of the connectivity of our system, or specific details on our abstraction, on the grounds that it would be contrary to the interests of national security. Our plan does not contain any commercially sensitive information.
Following the consultation period, we will carefully review all feedback received by 2 August 2026. We will then publish a Statement of Response, setting out any changes we have made to our draft Drought Plan, by 23 October 2026.
The Secretary of State will subsequently consider whether any directions should be issued before the Plan is finalised. We expect to publish our final Drought Plan in early 2027.