With exceptionally dry conditions across the UK, short-term responses to drought are no longer enough.
Prolonged heat and minimal rainfall this summer have highlighted the growing pressure on our water resources, but as summer ends, the conversation must continue.
How can the UK move beyond responding to drought when it happens, towards building resilience before it arrives?
Join us in September for our next live insider session, where we’ll bring together experts from across drought resilience, water efficiency, behaviour change and land management. We’ll reflect on this summer’s record-breaking conditions, examining how organisations can move beyond temporary measures towards approaches that normalise sustainable water use across homes, businesses, and communities.
Webinar details
- Date: 23rd September 2026
- Time: 2pm (BST)
- Duration: 45 minutes + 15-minute live Q&A
Attend live to participate in the Q&A and hear directly from our panel of experts. A recording will be shared with all registered attendees following the event.
About drought resilience
This July was the driest for England and Wales since records began 190 years ago, and according to the Climate Change Committee, drier summers will mean shortfalls in water supply could reach over five billion litres per day by 2050.
This summer we experienced how drought and heatwaves trigger temporary behaviour changes, awareness campaigns, and short-term demand reduction, but building drought resilience in the UK is no longer a seasonal challenge. Long-term resilience requires sustained behavioural and systemic change.
Building drought resilience means creating lasting water-efficient behaviours, improving how water is valued and used, strengthening community engagement, and supporting policy frameworks that enable long-term adaptation.
Achieving this transition will require collaboration across water companies, regulators, policymakers, local authorities, landowners, businesses, and communities.
What you will learn
- How water companies can move beyond traditional awareness campaigns to create lasting water-efficient behaviours
- Which behaviour change approaches and interventions are most likely to deliver sustained impactWhat other countries are doing to embed long-term behaviour change
- The role of policy and regulatory frameworks in enabling proactive drought adaptation
- How organisations can maintain engagement with water efficiency throughout the year, not just during drought events
- Practical lessons from behaviour change and sustainability programmes that can support future drought resilience planning
Organisations that act now will be better positioned to reduce environmental impacts, avoid costly emergency responses, and support long-term water security.
Who should attend
- Water companies and water resource managers
- Policymakers and regulators
- Members of professional bodies and industry associations
- Local authorities and regional planners
- Water efficiency and consumer groups
- Sustainability, environmental and resilience professionals
- Businesses with significant water use and water stewardship responsibilities
- Landowners and property developers
- Anyone interested in the future of drought resilience, water efficiency, and climate adaptation in the UK.
Meet the speakers
- Dr Shai Kassirer, Water & Marine Co-Lead at Eunomia
- Dr Clare Twigger-Ross, Climate Adaptation Lead at Eunomia
- Professor Liz Sharp, Professor of Water and Planning at The University of Sheffield
- Dr Fatima Ajia, Independent Consultant at Environmently
- Kelly Hewson-Fisher, Director & Head of Rural Research at Savills
Sign up to attend Drought resilience: making water efficiency the new normal