Drought status declared for north Wales - Natural Resources Wales

While many parts of Wales have received some welcome rainfall this week, the extended hot and dry weather this spring/summer is continuing to impact Wales’s rivers, groundwaters, land and wildlife.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has announced today (29th August) that despite the change in weather, trigger levels have been met to move north Wales into drought status, closely following south east Wales, which declared drought earlier this month.

South west Wales has benefitted from this week’s rainfall and will remain at prolonged dry weather status while being closely monitored.

The decision was shared with a meeting of the Welsh Government’s Drought Liaison Group this morning, where the latest hydrological data and the wider implications of low river flows and groundwater levels was considered.

Concerns were shared about the impacts witnessed by our teams on the ground, as well as members of the public via NRW’s incident hotline.

In north Wales, more reports are being received about streams drying up and fish found in distress. A significant wildfire impacted the Newborough National Nature reserve over the bank holiday weekend, causing a temporary closure to the site.

In south east Wales, there are considerable concerns about salmon populations due to low flows and consistently high river temperatures in recent months. Adult salmon mortalities have been reported and advice has been circulated to the angling community about safe practices.
Significant wildfires also impacted the Welsh Government Woodland Estate over the bank holiday weekend in the south Wales valleys.

NRW’s decision to move north Wales to drought status is a consideration of these impacts on the environment, agriculture and land management.