Policy paper

8. Taking action on water for food: National Framework for Water Resources 2025

Published 17 June 2025

Applies to England and Wales

Secure and reliable water supplies are vital for food production, food security and to support the economy. We will continue to work with the sector to help farmers and growers improve their water supply resilience, including recognising and responding to risks from climate change, and helping abstraction licence holders adapt to potential regulatory sustainability reductions.

While we will continue to protect the water rights of legitimate water users through water abstraction licences, there are a wide range of actions needed to help the sector access water when it is most needed.

Understanding the current and future pressures is vital. We want farmers and growers to have a greater understanding of business risk around vulnerabilities to supply.

8.1 Engagement in water resources planning

We want to ensure that the sector can more effectively engage in water resources planning at all geographical scales.

At a national level, we have strengthened its voice in the governance arrangements for the National Framework.

At a regional level we have set out our expectations in this document for regional water resources groups to ensure that the agriculture sector is adequately represented in governance arrangements.

We are supporting catchment-scale assessments of water supply and demand for agriculture. These look at how current and resources may change and the extent to which there will be future surpluses or deficits of water based on different demand scenarios.

We want regional water resources plans to set out how they can help to resolve residual water supply deficits for the sector (after allowing for the implementation of local solutions).

We want regional water resources groups to work closely with the food sector to identify and agree how they can add value by facilitating and co-ordinating the identification of local solutions which will help improve water supply and environmental resilience.

8.2 Water abstractor groups

Locally, we are supporting the promotion of water abstractor groups (WAGs) to enable a better understanding of future pressures and to work collaboratively to identify and implement solutions to improve the resilience of supplies and to protect the environment.

We are working with the Water for Food Group to identify how WAGs and regional water resources groups can work most effectively within the same geographic area.

We recognise that WAGs can work at different scales depending on their reason for formation. Each WAG will have its own unique remit reflecting a different set of challenges, a different set of local pressures and will need to work with various stakeholders. Small groups of farmers collectively working together can deliver benefits such as sharing of water rights and the development of multi-ownership infrastructure, and larger groups may be more effective on having a stronger voice and being part of the water resources planning process. We want to make space for different types of WAGs in the water resources planning landscape.

Having scalable WAGs presents challenges on putting the right governance in place so that there is the right fit between local scale and regional planning and so that roles and responsibilities are clear. We will work with Regional Groups and the Water for Food Group so that flexible governance arrangements are developed which can work for all.

8.3 Local resource options and delivery of solutions

It is not just about improving water resources planning. We want to create a pathway for the delivery of solutions.

We are working with groups of farmers and growers to undertake local resource option (LRO) screening studies to identify, screen and rank options which could potentially improve water supply resilience.

Following work in 2024/5, there could be 7 potential new WAGs as a result of the additional engagement generated through LRO studies:

• 2 expressed interest
• 4 have started to formulate
• 1 are close to establishing
• 9 are already established

Figure 27: Local resource option screening studies 2024/25

Number	Location	Screening study main recommendation
1	Thet	High flow capture and reservoir storage
2	Roding	High flow capture and reservoir storage
3	Nar	Hydrocycle with reservoir storage
4	Lower Ore	Storing water in drainage ditches
5	Lower Butley	Hydrocycle with reservoir storage
6	Sudbourne	Hydrocycle with reservoir storage
7	Lark	Water sharing agreement
8	Mease	Water sharing agreement with treated effluent
9	Ely	Drainage water with reservoir storage
10	Lower Bure	Reservoir storage
11	Muckfleet	Hydrocycle with reservoir storage
12	Lincoln	Water sharing agreement
13	Till	High flow capture and reservoir storage
14	Downham Market	Drainage water with reservoir storage
15	Chichester	Water sharing agreement
16	Clacton	Water sharing agreement with treated effluent
17	Newport	High flow capture and reservoir storage
18	Shawbury	Reservoir storage
19	Pavelane	Reservoir storage
20	Cambridge	Reservoir storage

We are planning to build on our programme of 20 LRO studies in 2024/5 which have identified preferred options including multi-ownership reservoirs, sharing of water rights and smart farming initiatives as well as helping to facilitate the establishment of a number of new WAGs.

We believe that LROs are applicable in other sectors so that an integrated water management approach can deliver multi-sector solutions.

We are also working with government departments to advise on support packages to help with delivery of solutions. One example is the Defra Water Management Grant which provides aid for the development of farm storage reservoirs and water efficient irrigation equipment.

8.4 Smart farming

We want the sector to do more to manage demand and to improve its water efficiency. This aligns well with the sector’s own Irrigation Water Strategy for the UK which calls for action to drive innovation in precision water management to improve water efficiency.

One way of doing this will be to move towards smart farming, where technology is used to:

• understand near-real time water availability. Improving monitoring and access to (and communication of) information on water flows and levels in relation to abstraction licence conditions will enable abstractors take water when it is there and better-protect the environment when it is not. This could be especially important in setting more localised hands-off flow conditions in sub-catchments off the main river where existing surface water controls can be many miles away.
• improve irrigation scheduling. Sensors can help identify the amount, timing and specific location of water needs in the field, especially in near real time. Improved monitoring of environmental conditions and the use of technology to make data and information available will help to optimise water use and make every drop counts.
• ensure that water abstracted and stored is being distributed and used efficiently, and that operational system leaks are identified early and minimised.

We will work with Regional Water Resources Groups and the agriculture sector to trial and test how this may be delivered in England, looking at good practice and lessons learnt nationally and internationally and how smart farming practice can be incorporated into the regulatory system.

8.5 Wider initiatives

Complementing our role as a regulator, we will continue to work with supermarkets to explore how contracts can be used to encourage and provide incentives to improve compliance against regulatory environmental expectations and requirements.

We believe that the sector should do more to optimise the distribution of water rights already allocated to abstraction licence holders. For example, while many irrigation licences are only fully used in dry summers, there are still significant licensed volumes which are allocated to farmers, growers and landowners which are not fully utilised. We want WAGs to actively promote water sharing between members and to facilitate enhanced levels of water rights trading so that the sector is not blocking access to water.

We want regional water resources groups to work effectively with the agriculture sector to deliver better outcomes. A ‘value proposition’ could include regional groups:

• translating the link between today’s baseline, future Catchment Permit Reviews and the long-term environmental destination for abstractors so that they understand when and how licence reductions may take place
• mapping risks at a scale that indicates which abstractors may be affected
• building on the interface with WAGs so information informs regional water resources plans
• supporting the evaluation of best value options for agriculture (such as LRO studies) and helping abstractors access funding to become more resilient

We will continue to work with the sector so that there are opportunities to realise multiple benefits through integrated solutions, for example through the Land Use Framework, which aims to empower decision makers to protect the most productive agricultural land and boost food security.  As part of our integrated approach, the FCERM Strategy and Roadmap recognise the importance of more resilient farming and land management, and we are committed to supporting the farming and agricultural sector with being better able to manage extremes of flooding and drought.

Next: 9. Taking action on other significant water-using sectors and emerging demands