Farmers Turn to 'Water Batteries' and Smart Storage as Drought Hits England

Farmers adopt "water batteries" and smarter storage as drought grips England

As a prolonged drought stretches across England, farmers are increasingly installing water-capture and landscape-storage solutions to sustain crops and livestock when rainfall is scarce. With rain events growing fewer and more erratic, local producers are looking for ways to retain and reuse every downpour.

What are "water batteries"?

"Water batteries" is a popular shorthand for large-scale, landscape-based storage systems: ponds, lakes, wetlands and other reservoirs that hold water during rainy periods for use during dry spells. These are not electrical batteries but physical storage systems designed to balance supply across seasons.

"If we capture the water, we can get more use out of it," said Will Luke, a dairy farmer in Devon, describing a pond he built to hold and release rainwater.

The WATERGRID project

The Westcountry Rivers Trust (WRT), which works to protect and restore freshwater habitats in southwest England, is leading a multimillion-pound initiative called WATERGRID. The project aims to create a network of "smart water grids" (SWGs) that collect and store rainwater in ponds, wetlands and small reservoirs across the landscape. WRT plans to use demonstration sites across diverse European regions to test the approach and share lessons with other communities facing drought.

Policy context and warnings

A statement from the UK Environment Agency warns that dry conditions in England could persist into 2026. The agency and the National Drought Group point to the UK's recent warmest summer on record as a worrying signal for future water availability.

"We need a lot more rain this winter to fill up our rivers, reservoirs, and groundwater," said Helen Wakeham, chair of the National Drought Group. "Even if it is wet outside, I urge people to use water as efficiently as possible to protect the environment and public water supplies."

Why it matters

Scientists link rising global temperatures to changing weather patterns that can produce both extreme storms and long dry spells. Higher temperatures and reduced seasonal rainfall increase the likelihood of droughts, putting pressure on agriculture, drinking supplies and ecosystems. Laurence Couldrick, chief executive of WRT, said farms could be among the biggest beneficiaries of SWGs:

"We can’t continue just getting rid of our water as fast as possible. We have to be able to hold on to it when it rains and use it during the summer months."

Examples from around the world

Variations of smart water grids are being trialled globally. Singapore is using advanced leak-detection monitoring to improve system efficiency, while a University of Melbourne project in Australia has secured roughly $2.4 million USD to pilot a network of rainwater tanks that could address both drought and urban flooding. Such examples show how technology and landscape-scale planning can be combined to improve resilience.

Challenges and trade-offs

Adapting to water scarcity can force difficult choices. Couldrick noted that some regions, such as parts of Spain during severe droughts, have had to balance competing priorities like agriculture and tourism. Proponents of SWGs argue that smarter storage and coordinated water management can reduce the need for such stark trade-offs.

As communities plan for a drier future, initiatives like WATERGRID aim to demonstrate practical, landscape-scale methods to capture, store and distribute water more effectively—helping farms, households and ecosystems endure longer dry spells.