Midlands water situation: October 2025 summary
Updated 12 November 2025
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/water-situation-local-area-reports/midlands-water-situation-october-2025-summary
1. Summary
Please see Section 7.3 of the full report for a map detailing the Midlands regional coverage of this report.
Rainfall – In October, all but one of the Midlands hydrological catchments received normal amounts of rainfall compared to the long term average (LTA). Shropshire Plains received below normal rainfall amounts compared to its LTA.
Soil moisture deficit – Soil moisture deficit (SMD) across the Midlands has decreased in October, meaning soils have become wetter. However, by the end of the month, soils across most of the Midlands were still drier than their LTA for the time of year.
River flows – In October, the majority of sites recorded normal monthly mean flows. Four sites recorded below normal and 2 recorded notably low monthly mean flows.
Groundwater levels – As of the end of October, most Midlands groundwater sites recorded normal or above normal groundwater levels compared to the LTA. However, Anthonys Cross recorded below normal groundwater levels and Southards Lane recorded notably low levels.
Reservoir stocks – By the end of October, most Midlands reservoirs recorded below average storage levels compared to their LTA. Clywedog, Vyrnwy and Tittesworth all recorded above average levels compared to their LTA.
2. Rainfall
In October, all but one of the Midlands hydrological catchments received normal amounts of rainfall compared to the LTA. These ranged from 80% to 112% of their LTA totals. Shropshire Plains, in the north-west, received below normal rainfall amounts compared to its LTA. This was at 68% of rainfall received compared to its LTA.
Over the last 3 months, again the majority of the Midlands hydrological catchments received normal amounts of rainfall compared to the LTA. These normal catchments received between 81% and 111% of rainfall compared to their LTA. Three catchments in the south-east received below average rainfall totals ranging from 66% and 75% of their LTA.
Over the last 6 months, only 3 catchments received normal amounts of rainfall compared to their LTA. There were all in the northern half of the Midlands. All catchments received below 100% rainfall amounts of their 6-month LTA. Three catchments received below normal rainfall amounts compared to the LTA. Five catchments in the southern half of the Midlands received notably low rainfall amounts compared to their LTA. The Avon catchment in the south-east of the Midlands, received exceptionally low rainfall amounts compared to the LTA with 61%.
Over the past year, a similar spatial trend persisted compared to the past 6 months, with the majority of catchments receiving below normal and notably low rainfall amounts compared to the LTA. All catchments received below 100% rainfall amounts of their one year LTA. Only the Welsh Mountains, in the west, received a normal amount of rainfall over the past 12 months, with it receiving 85% of its LTA. The Avon catchment again receiving exceptionally low rainfall amounts compared to its LTA with 74%.
3. Soil moisture deficit and recharge
SMD across the Midlands in October has decreased since last month, meaning that soils have become wetter. The majority of the hydrological catchments recorded a SMD value of 41mm to 100mm. The Welsh Mountains had the lowest SMD values at between 11mm to 40mm, making it the wettest catchment. Catchments to the south-east were drier than the north-west. The Welsh Mountains SMD value is a difference between -5mm and 5mm from its LTA. The Tame, Soar and Avon catchments in the south-east had SMD amounts 26mm to 50mm higher than their LTA. All other catchments had 6mm to 25mm of SMD higher than their LTA.
4. River flows
In October, the majority of the sites in the Midlands recorded normal monthly mean flows. All sites received monthly mean flows of less than 100% of their LTA. Four sites, scattered across the northern half of the Midlands, recorded below normal monthly mean flows. These were Walcot, Clifton Hall, Kegworth and Auckley. Two sites, Ebley Mill in the south, and Great Bridgeford in the north, received notably low monthly mean flows.
Wedderburn Bridge has been showing unreliable data from September 2024 onwards, therefore, data has been removed from this report. Due to current issues with recording at low flows affecting Deerhurst, data for Haw Bridge was used in place of Deerhurst.
5. Groundwater levels
At the end of October, all sites except Anthonys Cross and Southards Lane recorded normal or above normal groundwater levels compared to their LTA. Anthonys Cross in the south recorded below normal groundwater levels compared to the LTA. Southards Lane in the north-east recorded notably low groundwater levels compared to the LTA.
6. Reservoir stocks
By the end of September, the majority of Midlands reservoirs had below average storage compared to the LTA. They ranged between 21% at Charnwood and 70% at Draycote. Three reservoirs; Clywedog, Vyrnwy and Tittesworth, all recorded above average storage levels compared to their LTA, ranging from 70% at Tittesworth to 85% at Vyrnwy.
7. Environmental impact
Both the West Midlands and East Midlands areas moved into drought incident status on 15 July 2025. We continue to work with water companies and other abstractors to manage water resources and take precautionary actions. A number of low flow alleviation schemes are also active across the region.
8. River Severn operations
The River Severn is regulated to maintain a minimum flow at Bewdley gauging station. This ensures sufficient water flows along the river to support environmental and water supply requirements. Regulation is instigated when flows drop below a threshold. The 2025 regulation season has seen 86 days of river regulation, which commenced on 9 May 2025. The last day of regulation was 11 September 2025.
9. River Wye operations
Following on from the previous month, River Wye Regulation continued throughout October. Regulation releases occurred from 1 October 2025 till 28 October 2025, with the exception of 13 October. Regulation releases ceased on 29 October 2025 and for the rest of the month.
10. Water abstraction restrictions
As of 31 October 2025 there were 31 water abstraction licence restrictions in place across the Midlands affecting 47 licences in total.
Author: Midlands Hydrology, midlandshydrology@environment-agency.gov.uk
Contact Details: 03708 506 506
Disclaimer: All data are provisional and may be subject to revision. The views expressed in this document are not necessarily those of the Environment Agency. Its officers, servants or agents accept no liability for any loss or damage arising from the interpretation or use of the information, or reliance upon views contained in this report.