The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has set out detailed guidance for the water companies on how to prepare drought plans, including the environmental assessments, monitoring and mitigation and compensation measures the utilities will need to consider.

Introducing the guidance, Defra says the water companies will need to include an environmental assessment of the effects that actions to maintain water supply will have, together with an environmental monitoring plan.

The water companies will have to set out how  the actions taken to maintain water supply will be monitored before, during and after the drought. The guidance also includes advice on how to collect the information if a company does not have enough baseline data details of any mitigation or compensation measures undertaken.

Defra says the water companies may also need to carry out a habitats regulations assessment (HRA) and a strategic environmental assessment (SEA).

The guidance says that it is particularly important to carry out an environmental assessment on:

• potential drought permit or drought order sites
• the sites of alternative water sources
• the locations of temporary water transfers
• It also explains how the environmental assessment should be written, including details of:
• likely changes in flow, water quality or level regime as a result of any actions
• features that are sensitive to these changes
• likely effects on these sensitive features
• what the water company will do to help protect these sensitive features

Defra suggests that evidence should also be included to support an environmental assessment e.g. historical monitoring data for the site and expert judgement relating to the specific habitat type.

The guidance also sets out detailed steps the water companies will need to carry out as part of an environmental assessment.

• Assess the hydrological or hydrogeological effects of your actions.
• Assess the environmental sensitivity of the affected areas.
• Identify any further evidence needed.
• Assess hydrological or hydrogeological effects

The water companies must also prove their understanding of the hydrology or hydrogeology of "every reach, wetland or lake area" affected by actions to maintain water supply as follows:

• identification of the hydrological or hydro-geological conditions that will trigger any actions
• identification of any hydrological or hydro-geological changes that the actions are likely to bring about, specifying their length and magnitude
• descriiption of the likely hydrological or hydro-geological situation the action is not carried out
• identification of the extent of the area affected by the planned actions

Defra has provided similarly detailed guidance on how to assess environmental sensitivity and the habitats and species that are present in each reach or area which are affected by any actions taken by the water companies to mitigate drought.

The Department has also asked the water companies to present their environmental monitoring plan as a separate document from the environmental assessment and advised that the plan should set out:

• how monitoring will be used to understand the baseline conditions at a site
• how  the effects of actions during and after a drought will be assessed

The plan must also includes details of who will carry out the monitoring, any features being monitored and the methods used, the location of survey sites, together with the time and frequency of any monitoring.

The water companies will be able to access historical ecological and environmental data records via the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales. They can also use data from sites that are currently being monitoring by the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales – although Defra is warning  of “no guarantee of the long-term availability of this data.”

They also have the option of asking the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales to carry out specific monitoring on their behalf, which they will usually have to pay for. 

Click here for the guidance on writing a drought plan

Click here for guidance on environmerntal asessment and monitoring