The Colne catchment is suffering from low flows as there has not been enough water re-charging the aquifers over the winter.This is especially noticeable in the Upper Colne at London Colney.

 A page on Affinity Water's website summarises the current situation and identified what individuals can do to make more water available for the environment, see

https://www.affinitywater.co.uk/water-resources-2017.aspx

 The Environment Agency has been working with Affinity Water, to address issues caused by abstraction.

Affinity Water has agreed to reduce overall abstraction by 42 million litres per day by 2020 and by 70 million litres per day by 2025.

There has already been a closure of a groundwater pumping station on a tributary of the River Colne upstream of Oxhey Park, and Affinity Water has embarked on an ambitious water efficiency programme to help customers reduce the water they use. These changes when combined with a programme to improve habitat in our local Chalk streams and other rivers, and the work of Catchment Partnerships and others, will contribute to improvements to the health of the water environment. 

In addition the Water Resources in the South East Group (WRSE), an alliance of the six south east water companies, the Environment Agency, Ofwat, Consumer Council for Water, Natural England and Defra, continues its work to develop long term plans for securing water supplies in the south east.

More about their work and the challenges can be found here:http://www.wrse.org.uk/