16 February 2026
The NFU has responded to the Environment Agency’s consultation on water abstraction rights, which could affect farmers’ ability to secure licences in the future.
This consultation focused on regulating access to water directly from the environment and how water abstraction rights are allocated to new water resources proposals.
Find out more at: GOV.UK | Reserving water abstraction rights.
Jump further down this page for more information on the consultation.
16 February 2026
We’ve summarised our response to this consultation as follows:
The NFU strongly supports a transparent system for reserving future water rights.
Agriculture needs long-term certainty, which depends on reliable access to water to support domestic food production and investment in resilience.
We agree that early licence applications for strategic schemes are important, as they give stakeholders time to assess impacts and for compromise solutions to be proposed. However, we have concerns about using adaptive pathways to justify the need for public water supply schemes, as this could undermine sectors such as agriculture where long-term confidence to invest is essential.
NFU members are open to short-term licensing of reserved water before strategic schemes begin, provided these licences have a minimum duration of five years. They should also not be subject to mid-term change through catchment reviews, as this undermines their viability.
For non-public schemes, the NFU supports having an equivalent route to justify need but warns that there is currently no statutory plan that takes into account food production.
The NFU believes that productive farmland that is dependent on abstraction should be considered ‘national critical infrastructure’, but notes that the absence of strategic planning for food production currently limits this.
The NFU supports statutory targets for food production and would welcome their inclusion in strategic assessments of water. Given its role in national security and the delivery of public goods, food production should be treated as a priority sector in future water allocation.
However, we have concerns about the proposed allocation hierarchy. National critical infrastructure must be clearly defined across sectors and should not automatically override locally or nationally important food-producing areas.
The NFU warns that the proposed hierarchy may discourage agricultural investment if alternative options are not fully considered. Confidence in the planning process, strong engagement from regional planners and fair treatment of locally important sectors are essential.
We agree that the regional tier water resource planning is the right level at which collaborative solutions should be sought between sectors and groups of abstractors. For this to be the case there will need to be sufficient funding for multi-sector planning.
Regional groups should support and inform decision-making but should not act as regulators.
The NFU does not believe current proposals offer sufficient environmental safeguards. There is uncertainty around how future changes to licensed volumes will be managed in relation to environmental targets and infrastructure needs.
We have particular concerns about heavy reliance on modelled targets rather than ecological evidence, and a lack of guarantee that safeguards will protect both water bodies and investor confidence over asset lifetimes.
Environmental protection must sit alongside realistic, long-term abstraction certainty.
A future approach to water allocation must provide long-term reliability, integrate wider policy objectives, improve flexibility and technology use, and maintain transparent decision-making.
Clear communication from regulators on planned changes is essential so that abstractors can prepare adaptive solutions.
The government should set out its priorities in a national water plan, including food production alongside environmental, housing and energy needs.
2 February 2026
The NFU's feedback form has now closed. You can still respond directly to the Environment Agency at: GOV.UK | Reserving water abstraction rights before 16 February.
24 November 2025
The EA (Environment Agency) is seeking views on a proposed framework that will guide how water abstraction rights are assessed and allocated for future strategic water projects in England.
The aim is to ensure fair access to water without affecting existing rights or harming the environment.
Under the proposals, regional water resources groups (or future regional water planning authorities) would be encouraged to explore collaborative solutions to avoid competing demands.
The proposals focus on the delivery of national critical infrastructure and set out how competing demands are assessed including a hierarchy of use. For example:
Agriculture relies heavily on water abstraction from rivers, streams, and groundwater.
These changes could affect farmers’ ability to secure licences for future water needs. It is vital that farmers’ interests are represented so they are not disadvantaged compared to other sectors such as energy or industry in accessing the future water they need.
The EA intends for the framework to be compatible with the EPR (Environmental Permitting Regulations), into which the abstraction licensing system is proposed to be integrated.
The consultation closes on 16 February 2026.
The NFU is reviewing the proposals in detail and will be submitting a response. We are keen to hear from members to ensure farmers’ views are reflected before 2 February 2026.
This page was first published on 17 December 2025. It was updated on 16 February 2026.
Once you have submitted your query someone from NFU CallFirst will contact you. If needed, your query will then be passed to the appropriate NFU policy team.