A drought has been declared for all of England’s South West region, the Environment Agency has announced.
Earlier this month, Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly were moved to drought status, but these areas have now been joined by Bristol, Somerset, Dorset, south Gloucestershire and parts of Wiltshire.
This now means 11 of the 14 areas covered by the Environment Agency in England have been declared as experiencing a drought.
It comes after parts of the country have been scorched by a period of high temperatures and the driest conditions in nearly 90 years.
While the area has seen some rainfall over the last two weeks, it has not been a “sufficient amount to compensate for the long dry period in recent months”, the agency said.
The Environment Agency’s water situation national report shows that last month was the driest July across England since 1935.