It’s 50 years since the intense heat of the 1976 drought hit the UK.
The country’s worst drought for 200 years, and one of the most severe ever, left reservoirs dry, cracked land, and melted tarmac on roads. For 15 consecutive days, temperatures hit 32°C in parts of the country. The record temperature for a June day was equalled, and still stands (for now).
What became known as the “drought of the century” resulted in the UK’s driest 16-month period for more than 200 years.
In that summer of 1976, people struggled to go to work on public transport in searing heat, wildfires sprang up in paper-dry woods and forests, farmers battled to save their harvests , and it was reported that 400 spectators were treated for heat exhaustion at Wimbledon in one day.
Weeks and weeks without rain led to national appeals to save water. An emergency powers bill, announced on July 3 1976, gave the government extra power to ration water use.
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In south-east Wales, Yorkshire and north Devon, people queued for water at standpipes in the street, while other areas experienced interruptions to their water supply. Meanwhile, food prices went up as farmers’ crops and garden vegetables died in the hot weather.
But the public of 1976 learned to cope with these unusual weather conditions, and per-person use of water dropped from an estimated 190 litres per day in 1972 to 95 litres in 1976. This was a generation with direct or family experience of the hardships of the second world war – including following government restrictions on food, clothing and fuel rationing, which finally ended in 1954.
Some of them had also experienced extreme weather in preceding decades, such as the significant droughts of 1949, 1955 and 1959 – as well as the “great freeze” of 1962-3, which caused an estimated 90,000 excess deaths.
These experiences, plus a public that was generally more trusting of government policy, meant compliance with restrictions was high.
What would happen today?
The environment, the economy and society have all changed since 1976. But drought risk is increasing.
The UK’s population has grown from 56.2 million in 1971 to 69.5 million in 2025. By 2021, one in six residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK, an increase of 2.5 million since 2011.
In 1976, 78% of the UK population lived in urban areas, increasing to 83% by 2024 – or from 43.7 million in 1976 to 57.6 million in 2024. This is also a population that experiences less time spent in nature than previous generations.
But compared with 1976, the UK is now more likely to experience higher summer temperatures, protracted heatwaves and drier soils.
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Our array of washing machines, dishwashers, power showers, pressure washers and paddling pools means we have come to expect water to be in our taps, regardless of what is happening to the weather and environment or our rivers.
When taps do not run, there is considerable frustration and anger, as has been experienced in the South East Water region during 2025 and ’26. Importantly for any government struggling to deal with a drought, trust in privatised water companies is low. This follows legal cases over sewage spills, worries about declining water quality, and perceptions of failing regulation.
During the UK’s 2018 heatwave, trust and willingness to act was seen to be dependent on the belief that water companies were also doing their part to reduce water consumption. But a 2023 survey by Ofwat on customer trust in these companies found 47% of respondents felt their water provider put the interests of its shareholders and owners first. Trust fell to the lowest level in a decade.
Around 60% of households now have a water meter, compared with none in 1976. But while smart meters are good at identifying leaks and tracking water use, reports suggest many consumers do not yet check them regularly to reduce use.
Another challenge is how to reach the public with updates and requests to reduce water use. Communicating about a drought is very different to 1976, when news channels were limited to BBC TV and radio, ITV and independent radio and print newspapers.
News is now widely consumed through social media as well as other media channels. But misinformation also spreads quickly through social media.
How can the UK prepare?
In preparing for the next major drought, the first and fundamental change required is to stop thinking of the UK as a wet country. London, with 690mm of annual rainfall, is drier than Rome’s 878mm and Paris’s 720 mm.
We, as consumers, should also start to think about how we do or don’t value water in our everyday actions. It’s important that households understand, and reduce, how much water each uses. If nothing changes, by 2055, the nation will need up to an additional 5 billion litres of water per day.
A 2020 survey found that 46% of respondents believed their household used less than 20 litres a day, while 17% said they consumed between 20 and 39 litres a day, and 15% thought they used 40 to 59 litres. The reality is between 135 and 150 litres per person, per day.
The biggest challenge for any current government and the water sector generally is likely to be gaining public trust in heeding national requests to save water.
New policy proposals for infrastructure investment, improved regulation, greater fairness and enhanced environmental resilience aim to reset confidence in the water sector as a whole. But as water bills rise to pay for this investment, and if issues around water quality and sewage pollution continue, it may not reset the balance of public trust.
Nonetheless, we should all also start to value water more, and use less, in order to adapt to a climate where intense droughts are an increasing risk in the UK.
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