News
We want to be sure everyone has enough water through winter and into 2026, which is why we on the 22 October 2025 we applied to the Environment Agency (EA) for a Drought Permit. The drought permit has now been granted. It will allow us to continue to abstract water from the River Derwent when the river has lower flows. This will help support the refill of Carsington Reservoir.
There won’t be any changes to your water supply. In fact, doing this should help make sure there’s enough for everyone.
What's happening
We went into spring this year with our reservoirs full. Since then, we’ve kept the water flowing over summer by moving water around the network and fixing leaks quicker than ever.
Our customers have helped hugely by reducing their water use. Between us, we’ve kept the water network working through some of the driest and hottest temperatures on record. A huge thank you for helping us with that.
The situation today
Following the record breaking dry spring and summer periods, Carsington Reservoir level is lower than we want it to be. We applied for the permit to allow us to continue to abstract water from the River Derwent if it stays dry and the river has lower flows. We will do this over winter to help refill the reservoir ahead of next spring.
We need everyone to continue to think about how much water they use, which is why we’ll still be talking about how to reduce water use through the autumn.
What does this mean for local rivers?
Over the winter, river levels are naturally at their highest anyway. So any impact on rivers will be limited.
We’ve looked very closely at the River Derwent so we know how it might respond to this temporary change in flow. Based on our environmental assessment, we do not believe that there will be harm to wildlife or ecology in the river. However, we will monitor the river closely while the Permit is in place. If we find any significant or unexpected impacts, we’ll be able to act quickly.
We’re still hopeful there will be more rain through the winter, which will help refill the reservoirs. However, the responsible thing to do now is not to leave anything to chance and make sure we have plenty of water ready for next summer.