National Framework for Water Resources 2025: water for growth, nature and a resilient future
Explores England’s long term water needs, setting out the scale of action needed to ensure resilient supplies and an improved water environment.
Applies to England and Wales
Documents
Details
The National Framework for Water Resources 2025 builds on the foundation provided by:
Updates to this page
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Updated and clarified the non-household demand forecasts explored in the modelling for the National Framework for Water Resources 2025 in Section 6.3. Corrected the National Framework for Water Resources main report Figure 3.11 maps in Section 3.2 as the table data and map data were not aligned. Updated the table water resource zone names for clarification. Clarified the drivers that impact supply (climate) versus demand in the Figure 3.11 caption. Corrected the Water Resources Data and Modelling Technical Report Section 4 maps to ensure alignment in colour scale between map and legend. This is for consistency with data available on the National Framework for Water Resources Data and Modelling Dashboard.
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Added 'Appendix E: Water resources data and modelling technical report'. Corrected some figures in the introduction of section 3 about estimated demand. And corrected some figures in section 3.3 about current use. Updated the graphical summary PDF to correct the same figures.
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Added 'Environmental Destination for Water Resources: planning guidance' as a new document on the page.
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Updated section 9.1, paragraph 2, to correct the figures about water abstracted for use in golf courses in England.
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Added 'Appendix D: Environmental Destination principles for protecting the water environment in water resources planning'.
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Updated the summary PDF and section 3 'How much additional water we need' to correct a figure: In 'Understanding England’s future water needs by 2055, the estimated total demand from other users for West Country Water and Environment (WCWE) should have been 217 Ml/d.
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Updated figure 1 (in '2. Current and future pressures on water resources') and figure 7 (in '3. How much additional water we need'). Updated the name of appendix B.
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First published.
Update history
2026-08-27 09:45
Updated and clarified the non-household demand forecasts explored in the modelling for the National Framework for Water Resources 2025 in Section 6.3. Corrected the National Framework for Water Resources main report Figure 3.11 maps in Section 3.2 as the table data and map data were not aligned. Updated the table water resource zone names for clarification. Clarified the drivers that impact supply (climate) versus demand in the Figure 3.11 caption. Corrected the Water Resources Data and Modelling Technical Report Section 4 maps to ensure alignment in colour scale between map and legend. This is for consistency with data available on the National Framework for Water Resources Data and Modelling Dashboard.
2026-04-15 15:17
Added ‘Appendix E: Water resources data and modelling technical report’. Corrected some figures in the introduction of section 3 about estimated demand. And corrected some figures in section 3.3 about current use. Updated the graphical summary PDF to correct the same figures.
2026-04-02 10:00
Added ‘Environmental Destination for Water Resources: planning guidance’ as a new document on the page.
2025-10-20 15:17
Updated section 9.1, paragraph 2, to correct the figures about water abstracted for use in golf courses in England.
2025-07-25 09:26
Added ‘Appendix D: Environmental Destination principles for protecting the water environment in water resources planning’.
2025-06-26 14:31
Updated the summary PDF and section 3 ‘How much additional water we need’ to correct a figure: In ‘Understanding England’s future water needs by 2055, the estimated total demand from other users for West Country Water and Environment (WCWE) should have been 217 Ml/d.
2025-06-25 14:39
Updated figure 1 (in ‘2. Current and future pressures on water resources’) and figure 7 (in ‘3. How much additional water we need’). Updated the name of appendix B.
2025-06-17 00:01
First published.