Environment Agency

Drought Communications

Engaging business to prepare for water shortages

The Environment Agency licences agricultural, industrial and leisure customers to abstract water directly from rivers and aquifers. In times of water shortages, abstraction may be reduced or even suspended, with serious economic implications. We were commissioned to help the Agency to understand the attitudes of licence-holders to water efficiency, and test out better advance warning of water shortages. Recruitment was a serious challenge as, except during a drought, most licence-holders would have little interest in water efficiency: but those with the least interest formed one of the most important customer segments, as they were the ones who stood to gain most from advance warning.

We also used interviews with the chief executives or directors of policy of several trade associations to provide more insight into the overall circumstances of their business sectors, including the opportunities for adopting water-saving techniques, the economic implications of restricting water supplies and the most effective dissemination channels. As well as our formal report, we facilitated a workshop with Agency staff to allow them to explore our findings and to co-design the drought warning scheme.