July saw 7% of the expected levels of rainfall, with just 1% across southern England.
The seven areas are: East Anglia; Hertfordshire and the whole of London; Thames Valley; Hampshire & the Isle of Wight; Devon & Cornwall; the West Midlands; Wessex (covering Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, and south Gloucestershire).
Helen Wakeham, director of water at the Environment Agency and chair of the National Drought Group, said: "The hot and dry weather means we are currently using water faster than nature can replenish it."
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