Update to the water company drought plan guideline (2025)
We want your views on updates to the guideline that water companies in England must follow when they prepare and publish their drought plans by 2027.
We formally review and update our guideline that water companies in England must follow when preparing their drought plans every 5 years.
The water company drought plan guideline sets out what companies must and should include in their statutory drought management plans. These plans focus on what companies plan to do to maintain their water supply and protect the environment from the actions they take during a drought.
We have updated the guideline to ensure that all technical information is up to date and lessons learnt from recent research and experience of drought has been incorporated. We have worked with water companies and regulators and taken their informal comments into account in providing this updated guideline.
We are asking for your views on:
- the clarity of the changes we have made to the guideline
- if anything is missing or needs improving to ensure that water companies write robust drought plans when following our guideline