According to a Defra press release published on 4 September 2026, the Environment Secretary visited Havant Thicket reservoir in Hampshire the previous day, described as England's first new reservoir in over 30 years. The department said the National Drought Group, which met the same day, reported continued low rainfall in August and no drought status changes that week. The release stated that 71.3% of England was in drought, with over 30 million people under water use restrictions, and that England was experiencing its third drought in five years.

The Environment Agency's Director of Water, Helen Wakeham, said recent rain did not make up for an exceptionally dry summer and that groundwater and reservoir storage would take many months to recover. The release put reservoir storage at 58%, a fall of 1.8% in the last week and 19.2% below the long-term average for the time of year. It said July 2026 was the driest July in 190 years and that summer 2026 had been declared England's hottest on record.

The release said Havant Thicket, once complete, would provide an additional 21 million litres of water a day. It said nine further reservoirs were planned, with the reservoirs and water transfer schemes together expected to add around 700 million litres a day by 2050, and that without action England could face a shortfall of 5 billion litres a day in public water supply by 2055. It also cited £65 million in support already provided to farmers affected by dry conditions.