UNITED Utilities has been granted a drought order to help safeguard water supplies and protect the environment in the north west.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has given the go-ahead to build a temporary weir at Ullswater to allow the company to store 1,300 million litres of water in the lake. The Environment Agency has already approved permits to pump more water from Windermere and Ullswater in the Lake District.

The combined measures will help protect the environment and supplies after one of the driest years on record.

Reservoirs in the region are around 72 per cent full, compared to more than 90 per cent in a typical year.