Letter to the Environment Agency

Sue Longstone,

Director Operations, North of England

The Environment Agency

26th August 2025

Dear Sue

We were shocked to see the EA has approved the drought permit for Yorkshire Water to remove water from the Wharfe. We don’t know if you have been down to the Wharfe, but the river is so low that you can walk across it in Ilkley now.

This is an abject failure of the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water to plan for predictable climate change. Beyond the obvious work that needs to take place to stop leaks from badly maintained sewage infrastructure and increase storage capacity, right now the first step should be a massive public information campaign so that the public understands how serious the situation is, and what they can do to help. Yorkshire Water says it has been communicating with customers to conserve water, but this has been minimal against the seriousness of the situation and your approval of the permit.  The hosepipe ban may well have reduced water consumption by 10% but that is nowhere near enough when we know the average household uses 140lpp per day, and it is possible to reduce this to 80lpppd i.e. a 60% reduction (People’s Commission report 2025).  The EA should be calling for massive public reduction in usage alongside restrictions on businesses before you damage the environment.

Whilst the wildlife in the river will suffer, the new build at Burley in Wharfedale is being allowed to water the gardens of empty houses. Why are businesses being protected over the environment? In our view the EA is not focusing anywhere near enough on how the public and businesses can conserve water in this emergency.

  • Clare Barrow in The Guardian says that “We only issue a permit if we are content that there are clear plans in place to mitigate any impact on the environment, along with strong evidence from Yorkshire Water of their ongoing commitment to reduce leaks and improve water efficiency.” Please can you provide the timetable for Yorkshire Water to fix the leaks, so that it is not leaking out more than double what you are permitting it to extract from the Wharfe alone. Please also provide the details of the water efficiency measures that provided you with the confidence to issue the permit. This will enable us to understand the decision.
  • Please provide information on how you are going to do to support the public to reduce water consumption.
  • David Kaye at Yorkshire Water said in The Guardian today “Specialist independent consultants have already assessed the environmental risks of implementing a drought permit. These have been agreed by the Environment Agency as part of this process.” Please provide the risk assessment for the River Wharfe. Please also provide details of how you will be monitoring the impact of the concentrated pollution and low flow on fish and wildlife.

We look forward to your early response

Letter to Minister Hardy

Emma Hardy MP, Minister for Water and Flooding, Defra.

House of Commons

London SW1A 0AA

Dear Minister Hardy

The Environment Agency has approved a drought permit that allows Yorkshire Water to extract 120 million litres a day from the Wharfe, whilst also restricting water input from the upstream Grimwith reservoir. At the same time Yorkshire Water is leaking over double this amount per day from its poorly maintained pipes.

The river here is the lowest any of us have seen, you can now walk across the river. This means that pollution is concentrated, and the water heats up quickly, both are devastating for fish. Taking water out is an extreme response to the drought, when other steps should be taken first.

Yorkshire water’s hosepipe ban has reduced household usage by 10%. This is clearly not enough. Businesses are still being allowed to use water without restrictions. We have a local massive housing development where the owners (David Wilson Homes) are being allowed to water empty houses gardens.

This is of course an abject failure of planning, which needs an urgent response – with a crisis task force convened to make sure we have a resilient water supply this year, and plans in place for the medium and longer term. We see nothing that resembles this in Yorkshire. Will you be requiring such a crisis task force?

There must be a massive campaign to reduce water use both domestically and by businesses. Why has there not been a public information campaign from the Environment Agency or Defra to support the public to reduce use? In other countries households are being supported to reduce water consumption to 80L pp per day, whereas we run at an average of 140L pp per day. Yorkshire Waters 10% reduction is hardly a dent.

We look to you to lead a strategy for water conservation and protection as a first step. The environment should not be the first to suffer. Please can you explain

  1. Why there is no emergency task force in place currently to plan for drought, and whether you will be requiring one for Yorkshire
  2. Why there has been no public information campaign to date, and if one is now planned.

For your information we have asked the Environment Agency for the environment risk assessment of the drought order; and for the Yorkshire water plan to stop the leaks.

We look forward to your response

Yours sincerely,

Prof Becky Malby, Stephen Fairbourn, Di Lury, Isla Lury Martin Robertshaw, Karen Shackleton, Owen Wells, Ilkley Clean River Campaign. A member of The Sewage Campaign Network