Urgent water warning as severe drought declared in 6 UK counties - full list

A severe drought has been declared across parts of southern England following a record-breaking summer, with the Environment Agency warning water resources are "under immense pressure". The drought is impacting parts of Cornwall , Devon, Dorset, Somerset , East Sussex and West Sussex. Brits have been warned to "use less water" in a bid to preserve falling supplies. It comes after a meeting of the National Drought Group, which reviewed water resources and drought conditions across England. Supplies have been heavily impacted by high demand after the country saw its hottest summer on record. Environment Agency chief executive Philip Duffy said the record-breaking heat and severe drought had put water resources under "immense pressure". "Recovery depends on both rainfall and how much water we use," he said. "We cannot change the weather , but water companies can act now. "We expect them to follow their drought plans and take the steps needed to secure public water supplies. "We are also asking everyone to use less water. That will leave more in our rivers and the environment, helping farmers and protecting wildlife and nature." The south east and south west have seen their driest April to September in more than a century, affecting reservoirs in those areas, officials said. Concerns over two major reservoirs, Ardingly in West Sussex and Wimbleball in Somerset, has prompted the change to severe drought status. Wimbleball serves around 300,000 properties across east Devon, north Devon, Somerset, west Dorset and West Somerset. According to the Environment Agency, a severe drought is the most critical stage of the dry conditions and can have "lasting effects on the environment, farming, people, communities, and the economy." Its website adds: "The lack of water leads to serious water shortages and widespread impacts across sectors. It's when the lack of water begins to disrupt daily life and the environment in major ways." Ministers are now planning to instruct water companies to conduct daily monitoring of reservoir and river levels, and push for tougher water quality monitoring. The Environment Agency also plans to increase compliance checks on businesses that withdraw water from natural sources to make sure they are only taking permitted quantities of water. The government said customer water supplies would be uninterrupted.