Exclusive: Investigation finds 76% rise in water taken from rivers and lakes for industrial or public consumption in two decades
The amount of water being sucked from England’s rivers has surged to record levels, with potentially disastrous consequences for people and wildlife, it can be revealed.
An investigation into licensing data by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian found that the volume of water taken from rivers and lakes for industrial or public consumption has jumped 76% in two decades: 11.6m cubic metres (410 cu ft) were abstracted in the five years to 2023, up from 6.6m in the early 2000s.
Abstraction – the removal of water from rivers, lakes, underground aquifers or tidal waters – is permitted for farming, industry or public supply. Anyone using more than 20 cubic metres a day needs a licence from the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales, setting limits on how much water they can take. Similar rules apply in Scotland.
River abstraction now accounts for 61% of all water taken from the environment, up from under 40% at the turn of the century. Groundwater use has also risen sharply, up 53% since 2018. Meanwhile, use of tidal water has plummeted, falling from almost half of total abstraction to just over a quarter.
