A drought has officially been declared in parts of England as households face new water usage restrictions and the prolonged dry weather continues to severely test the nation's infrastructure.
Parts of southern, central and eastern England are now in drought status, the Environment Agency said in a statement.
They added water companies will now have to step up efforts to manage the impact of dry weather on farmers and the environment.
"All water companies have reassured us that essential supplies are still safe, and we have made it clear it is their duty to maintain those supplies," Water Minister Steve Double said, following a meeting of the National Drought Group.
"We are better prepared than ever before for periods of dry weather, but we will continue to closely monitor the situation, including impacts on farmers and the environment, and take further action as needed."
Last month marked the driest July in England since 1935.
Only 35 per cent of the average rainfall for the month fell, and parts of England and Wales are now in the middle of a four-day "extreme heat" alert.
The last drought in England was 2018.
The national forecaster has issued a warning for a small chance of flooding when rain and thunderstorms break the dry weather early next week.
Hosepipe, sprinkler bans begin
Much of Europe has faced weeks of baking temperatures that have triggered large wildfires, drained water levels of the Rhine River in Germany and seen the source of Britain's River Thames dry up further downstream than in previous years.
Yorkshire water announced this week a hosepipe ban would begin on August 26, forbidding customers from using hoses to water gardens, wash cars or fill up paddling pools.
"The hot, dry, weather means that Yorkshire's rivers are running low and our reservoirs are around 20 per cent lower than we would expect for this time of year," Yorkshire Water's director of water, Neil Dewis, said.
The company, which services about 2.3 million households and 130,000 business customers across northern England and parts of the Midlands, was the latest regional water firm to announce usage restrictions.
A ban on hoses and sprinklers for South East Water customers came into effect on August 12.
Thames Water, which supplies 15 million people around London, has said it is also planning restrictions.
Carbon emissions from French wildfires hit record levels
Meanwhile ongoing wildfires in south-western France have already released record amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, roughly equalling the yearly emissions from 790,000 cars.
New satellite data released by the European Union's Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) showed the fires in the Gironde region unleashed nearly 1 million metric tonnes of carbon from June to August.
In the past two decades France has averaged around 300,000 tonnes of annual carbon emissions from fires.
The only year that has come close to this summer's record for France is 2003 — coincidentally the same year that satellite monitoring began.
Intense summer heat and dry conditions then saw about 650,000 metric tonnes of carbon released from June to August wildfires.
Emissions data from south-western Europe offered a "reflection of the size and persistence of the fires," said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at CAMS.
This, he added, was tied to the region's plants and trees becoming more flammable under "long-standing drier and warmer conditions".
Spain also registered record wildfire emissions during a mid-July heatwave, CAMS reported last month. By comparison, Portugal wildfires resulted in lower emissions than previous years.
More than 60,000 hectares have burned so far in France this year, six times the full-year average from 2006 to 2021, according to the European Forest Fire Information System's data.
While France's emissions are "fairly negligible" when it comes to global wildfire emissions, Mr Parrington said, the fires have had a big impact on regional air quality.
Recent satellite images showed a huge smoke plume unfurling into the Bay of Biscay.
In addition to carbon, wildfires release other pollutants like Particulate Matter 2.5, which can make people sick.
Smoky conditions have also been found to reduce solar energy output, in some cases by nearly half, because tiny airborne particles from fires can prevent the Sun's energy from reaching panels.
France's Gironde region is home to a 40,000-strong solar panel installation that provides power to almost 13,000 people.
ABC/Reuters
