‘Drought status remains in all areas of Wales,’ NRW

Despite the recent rains, drought status remains in all areas of Wales, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has said today, September 22.

“All parts of Wales have received some rainfall over the past three weeks, with Wales as a whole receiving 62% of the long-term average rainfall for the month so far [by September 20],” said NRW. “This ranges significantly from 91.6% in Pembrokeshire to 40.6% on Anglesey.

“While the recent rains have wet the earth’s surface, and some of it will have gone into surface watercourses, a significant amount of rain will be needed before water begins to trickle down through the soils to restore groundwater levels and flow into rivers. 

“We’ve seen this over the last two weeks with rivers responding to rainfall and falling relatively quickly with the majority of rivers back to below normal levels.” 

Low levels

Flows that remain ‘extremely low’ for this time of year include the River Wye (at Redbrook), Ogmore (Bridgend), Ewenny (Keepers Lodge), valleys rivers, and parts of the River Dee.

“Groundwater and reservoir levels across Wales also remain low, and regular periods of rain will be needed over the autumn months to begin a proper recovery,” NRW added. 

“It will therefore take some time before resources fully recover from the drought. We may see some sectors or areas recover more quickly; however, others will continue to feel the effects – public water supplies will take time to fully recover, temporary use bans remain in place, and conditions on abstraction permits to reduce or stop abstraction could remain in effect for some time into the autumn.”