Water licensing legislation for horticulture

Taking water from wells, boreholes and even reservoirs is regulated to make sure all users get a fair share and the environment does not suffer. Find out more about the licensing and permit system.  

This information was last updated in 2019.

Water licensing and permits

You must apply for a licence issued by the Environmental Regulator if you want to abstract more water than the de minimis limit of 20 m3 /day (10 m3 /day in Scotland and Northern Ireland in some circumstances).

Some points to bear in mind:

• The de minimis limit applies in every 24-hour period and is not an average.
• Over the next few years, the licence system in England will move to a permit system.
• Licences/permits are subject to application and annual subsistence charges.
• An abstraction licence does not guarantee a supply of water because its availability varies; for example, during a period of prolonged dry weather.
• Constraints may be placed even on valid licences when river flows or groundwater levels fall below set levels.
• These are known as ‘Hands off Flow’ (HoF) or ‘Hands off Level’ (HoL) conditions. You may need daily permission from the environmental regulator under such circumstances.
• The government can also issue an emergency restriction on abstraction for spray irrigation under Section 57 of the Water Resources Act 1991.
• There is an exemption for commercially grown crops under protection and container-grown crops.

License renewal

• When abstraction licensing was first introduced, licences were issued as a permanent licence of right.
• Since the Water Resources Act 1991, most new licences are now time-limited and reviewed regularly.
• In England, there are common end dates within EA Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) areas so that licences can be reviewed at the same time.
• Also bear in mind that renewal volumes are linked to past usage, so if much of the previous year’s licensed volume has not been used, the new licence may grant a lower annual volume.
• Business water use schedules should be reviewed to avoid losing water volume.
• For example, licences could be aggregated into one to allow the water volume to follow crops around production land, while abstracting from different locations.

Trickle and drip irrigation

In England and Wales, trickle and drip irrigation were previously exempt from the need for a licence.

However, this use of abstracted water must now be licensed unless your trickle and drip system uses less than 20 m3 /day.

The environmental regulator has a three-year period to authorise any licence.

Catchment management

Increasingly, ‘catchment approaches’ are being used to manage water resources as an alternative to ‘one size fits all’ approaches such as regulation.

The aim is to bring all stakeholders into the discussion rather than placing responsibility solely with the regulator.

In catchment areas where there is a high demand for water or low water flows, a collaborative and targeted approach aims to share water more effectively between the various users.

Schemes to test ways to manage water differently, and not just with regulatory tools, have been piloted in the catchment areas of East Suffolk, Cam and Ely Ouse, South Forty Foot (Witham) and Idle and Torne.

You may want to investigate joining or forming a grower-organised abstractor group to coordinate activities and communications in your area.

Existing groups can be identified by contacting the UK Irrigation Association (see further information section).

Environmental constraints

There is increasing focus on reducing environmental damage caused by abstraction and it is possible that the licencing system will be changed to cope with damage and risk of damage to protected sites or failure to meet environmental objectives.

Abstracting water near protected sites, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) or Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), has resulted in licences being reduced or revoked in recent years.