One in 12 golf clubs in England broke water extraction rules in past five years

More than 140 clubs breached licences, with a third caught taking water illegally, analysis shows – but no fines issued

More than 140 golf clubs in England have breached their water extraction licences in the past five years, according to data analysis by the Guardian.

More than a third of these clubs were caught taking water illegally from the environment, either by taking more than permitted or by removing it outside the permitted period.

In most of the other cases, the breaches were the result of golf clubs that were either not reporting or monitoring their water usage properly, or were not reporting and monitoring it at all.

Although 100 of the golf clubs breached their licences in a way that put the environment at risk, none of the infringements have led to a prosecution or fine.

Amy Fairman, head of campaigns at the campaign group River Action, described the figures as “absolutely unacceptable”. “It suggests that there are no meaningful consequences for breaching licences. Monitoring and enforcement must be significantly strengthened.”

The Environment Agency (EA) told the Guardian that it had increased its ability to monitor and detect breaches of abstraction licences. A spokesperson said: “Our first response is to work with abstractors to bring them back into compliance, however we won’t hesitate to take further action if necessary.”

Over 70% of England is now in drought after a summer of back-to-back heatwaves, which the Met Office has just declared to be the UK’s hottest on record. The previous record was set just last year. Nine major reservoirs are classed as having exceptionally low storage, and farmers have warned that the drought could lead to food shortages.

The Guardian obtained the data, which covers the period from 2021 to 2025, from the EA via an environmental information request (EIR). The overall number of breaches has more than doubled in that time, probably largely because of the digitisation of records and improved monitoring.

Over the five-year period, golf clubs breached their licences 279 times, accounting for about 6% of the total breaches. Of these, 175 were category 2 or 3 breaches meaning that they posed the threat of a “reasonably foreseeable” impact on the environment, human health or quality of life.

Although the figures do not relate to the 2026 drought, they do include breaches that occurred during the droughts of 2022 and 2025 .

Fairman said: “As we face increasingly climate stressed conditions, we need to look at who is prioritised to extract our water and that should be essential services, not golf clubs. Demand and competition for water is going to increase so the government needs to take this issue really seriously and put in place a national plan for water resilience.”

In England, the removal of water from rivers, lakes and boreholes in the ground is governed by a system of abstraction licences, held by public water companies, farmers and many other businesses. The licences place conditions on where, when and how much water businesses can remove, as well as how they must monitor and report their usage.

Dr Megan Klaar, an associate professor in hydroecology at the University of Leeds, told the Guardian that breaches of abstraction licences were “bad news for the environment”.

“If the water level gets too low this can increase the temperature, concentrate effluent and other pollutants and dry out the river. There needs to be enough water so that species such as fish have enough habitat to exist in.”

The Environment Agency checks compliance through a mix of inspections and desk-based assessments, including use of satellite data. Where breaches occur, the agency can respond with advice, a warning letter, a fine or a prosecution.

Golf clubs use water to maintain and irrigate their courses and grounds. There are 1,735 golf clubs in England, according to data from England Golf , meaning that roughly one in 12 have breached a water abstraction licence in the past five years.

While some clubs abstract water using their own licence, others have come under criticism for using mains water in areas where householders have had to comply with a hosepipe ban.

Guy Shrubsole, an environmental campaigner and author of The Lie of the Land, called for courses to be rewilded. “Golf’s purpose seems to be to spoil a good walk – and now it turns out golf clubs are stealing our water, too. As the climate crisis accelerates, the last thing we need is this wasteful, water-guzzling, land-hungry extravagance,” he said.

Fairman suggested that clubs should retain more water on their land by creating their own small-scale reservoirs or wetlands.

England Golf, which represents golf clubs in England, told the Guardian that it provided guidance to clubs on managing water shortages. Its head of sustainability, Kirstin McEvoy, said: “Our objective is to work with all clubs who need help, to ensure that they are making the necessary steps to be sustainable when it comes to their water usage … we recognise these are increasingly challenging times.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Abstraction licences have strict conditions to protect the environment and are reviewed regularly. We expect all abstractors, including golf clubs, to comply fully with these licence conditions to help protect our rivers and groundwater.”