Drought is no longer a temporary inconvenience. This year saw the driest spring since the 1950s, and official warnings now cover five drought-stricken areas, with six more at risk (National Drought Group, 2025). In East Anglia, groundwater levels have dropped so low that the River Lark ran dry for several days, leaving stranded fish and causing losses for farmers (Hutton Institute, 2025). What’s more, some farmers in Cambridgeshire have reported a drop of up to 40 percent in crop yields due to low rainfall and restrictions on irrigation.

Nature reserves have suffered too. Mass fish deaths have been reported in dry river pools across the South while wetlands in the Norfolk Broads have withered, reducing habitat for rare birds and amphibians (BBC News, 2025). This pattern illustrates a global trend, mirroring water crises in the Global South such as Cape Town, South Africa’s 2018 drought, where nearly four million people faced the threat of “Day Zero”, the moment citywide taps were at risk of running dry. The crisis exposed how drought and climate change can devastate not just natural habitats but entire urban populations, as business, agriculture, and everyday life were forced to adapt through emergency measures and strict government interventions (SIWI, 2024; Brookings Institution, 2023). Similar challenges now threaten rapidly growing cities and communities throughout Africa, Latin America, and Asia, where water insecurity and ecological loss go hand in hand. Scientists and conservationists stress the need for long-term monitoring and the sharing of water data between agriculture, utilities, and regulators, viewing collaborative models like Zaragoza, Spain, which reduced urban water use significantly, as critical solutions for the Global South, where the vulnerability to water shortages is even greater (WWF Europe, n.d.; SIWI, 2024).