Research and analysis

9. Leisure – drought risks, impacts and actions: Drought prospects for spring 2026

Published 14 November 2025

Applies to England

9.1 Potential impacts 

This sector covers golf courses, sports pitches and racecourses.  

A dry winter would significantly restrict irrigation capacity by spring 2026. Without adequate recharge leading to continued restrictions, many facilities would face both operational, safety and economic challenges.  

Golf 

Many clubs rely on mains water or abstraction without storage. Any abstraction or public water supply restrictions next year would affect turf survival on greens and tees. If there is a dry winter it might not be possible to fill reservoirs where they do exist. 

Horse racing and equestrian  

Animal and rider welfare obligations require controlled moisture for surface elasticity and dust suppression. There is a risk that race meetings will be abandoned where turf is drought-hardened due to lack of rain and the inability to irrigate sufficiently. If meetings are abandoned, it would lead to loss of income.  

Cricket, football, bowls and other community natural turf-based sports 

Both professional and grass roots cricket clubs are likely to experience reduced pitch quality and an increase in injury risk to players. While professional clubs are likely to have a budget for irrigation systems and storage, this is less true for small local clubs. The county and club grounds are already rationing irrigation and pitch preparation for the 2026 season could be delayed without a full recharge.  

Artificial or semi synthetic surfaces 

Prolonged water restrictions could render surfaces unsafe or shorten their lifespan through thermal damage and degradation, rendering facilities unusable.  

9.2 Actions by the leisure sector to reduce the impacts of a dry winter and drought in spring 2026 

 The leisure sector plans the following actions to:  

• promote the UK Golf Federation’s series of Irrigation Efficiency Guides and resilience briefings - this helps courses reduce consumption, improve targeting, and explore alternative water such as rain, runoff and treated effluent  

• update Water Resilience Plans across member facilities to identify storage deficits and potential alternative sources  

• undertake irrigation-system audits to reduce spray losses and leaks  

• maintain liaison with the Environment Agency and water companies regarding adaptive winter abstraction triggers and refill permits  

• reinforce welfare guidance for racing, cricket and artificial-surface management where water for irrigation is limited  

• broaden adoption of the Leisure Operator Water Charter to ensure all facilities have a plan to reduce potable use and develop storage  

• define essential irrigation volumes for maintaining playable and safe surfaces across sports, recognising welfare and public-liability obligations  

• support construction and re-profiling of 5,000 to 20,000 cubic metres (m³) reservoirs, install smart meters and share telemetry data to evidence compliance and efficiency gains  

Medium-term actions  

This sector plans the following actions across the medium term: 

• to accelerate the design of multi-benefit reservoirs and attenuation basins incorporating wetland and reed-bed filtration to access Environment Land Management Scheme and local-nature recovery funding  

• to pilot ‘Problem to Resource’ capture projects with Lead Local Flood Authorities, Rivers Trusts and Natural England to trial regulated surface-water capture from roads and developments  

• to extend data gathering on mains-water use and storage capacity to benchmark transition progress  

• to expand public communication emphasising flood-relief, biodiversity and community benefits of leisure-sector water projects