Rivers, drought and water scarcity

I don’t know about you, but I’ve found sight of the wildfires in Europe and Northern America really, really frightening.   I can’t remember a summer with news so often on the subject of wildfire at every broadcast time and every day. 

My thoughts and prayers are with those fighting the fires – I hope and pray that they will all be safe, and a big thanks to them all for everything they are doing.  I am also thinking big time of the wildlife and other animals who will have suffered from wildfire and – in many cases – sadly died from the fires.  

And seeing the state of the countryside a couple of days ago filled me with horror and huge sadness. 

What, I wondered, was happening to the state of our rivers?

On cue, the River Trust emailed yesterday (30th July 2026) about our rivers.  The Rivers Trust have a blog which I would urge you to read, and it has tips on how to save water and reducing our water footprint at home. 

They explained that record-breaking temperatures and weeks of extremely low rainfall week after week have left a lot of the UK and Ireland facing drought and water scarcity.   

Many of us have hosepipe bans in place in the areas where we live.  Some people are choosing not to follow them for all sorts of reasons, often because of losing patience with our water companies.

But the Rivers Trust point out that news channels rarely follow the water – or a lack of it – back to our rivers.  It further points out that we all – industry, agriculture and households – have a responsibility to use water all year round.

It points out that the hot, dry weather is having a huge impact on our rivers.   At the moment, its blog explains that about 78% of England’s rivers classified as below normal or lower.  The weather is putting a huge pressure on our rivers.   It is easy to blame the government and water companies for the state of things.  

Every time I turn on the tap and water comes out, I am conscious that somewhere, wildlife will have no water to drink.  It doesn’t half make me switch the tap off quickly.

I can’t think of anything worse than switching on a tap and nothing comes out.  We all need water.

Please take a look at the Rivers Trust blog and take time to look at your water use.  We have a bucket in the kitchen and a few others to collect any water that would otherwise go to waste.   That water goes over the garden.  It’s amazing how it adds up.  Please do it for wildlife, if not for all us humans.

We all have a responsibility to look after our rivers, for ourselves and our wildlife.  Please visit the Rivers Trust and the Canal and River Trust to see if you can help and be a part of their journey to keep our rivers in good health so that we might enjoy good health too.

The photo at the top of this blog is by Roberto Catarinicchia on Unsplash. Thank you, Roberto.