As the hot and dry weather continues for much of the UK, drought status could be declared in additional parts of England this week.
The Environment Agency (EA) has suggested that “several areas” of England could enter drought status as “public water supplies remain under increasing pressure with continued dry weather and high demand”.
For the seventh consecutive week, less than 10mm of rain fell across the country, with east and south-east England seeing less than 1mm of rain, according to data from the agency’s latest drought summary.
More than half of England and the whole of Wales are already under drought conditions.
Reservoir levels have continued to fall, with almost all across England below normal and five classed as ‘exceptionally low’, according to the EA.
Wisley in Surrey has gone more than 50 days without a drop of rain. Southern England is approaching two months without any notable rainfall.
Customers of South West Water were the latest to see a hosepipe ban introduced on Saturday.
There are now more than 20 million people in the UK living in an area where prolonged dry weather combined with heatwaves and high demand for water has led to restrictions on usage.
Update: A previous version of this story said that the UK had recorded 35 days of temperatures exceeding 30C, breaking the previous record. As of 9 August, the UK has equalled the 1995 record, with 34 days of temperatures exceeding 30C.