The environment department took control of the planning process to build two "major reservoirs" in east England for the first time in 30 years, as it warned national supplies, especially clean drinking water, were "under threat".

"Rapid population growth, crumbling infrastructure that has been left to decline, and a warming climate mean the UK could run out of clean drinking water by the middle of the next decade without a major infrastructure overhaul," the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said in a statement.

The two reservoirs were given "nationally significant" status, transferring planning powers from the local level to the central government.

The department said the move "will streamline and accelerate the planning process, to shore up water resources for over three quarters of a million homes in England's most water-stressed areas".

The Met Office, the state weather forecaster, said earlier this month that this spring could be "the driest for more than a century", but cautioned that figures would only be known at the end of May as rain had been forecast.

The Environment Agency (EA) announced England had experienced its driest start to spring in 69 years, with reservoirs falling to "exceptionally low" levels.

The dry start meant that farmers had to begin irrigation earlier, leading to an "increased demand on their on-site storage reservoirs".

- Water 'resilience' -

The EA called a meeting of its national drought group earlier this month, urging water companies to safeguard water supplies.

In the meeting, EA's deputy water director Richard Thompson warned that "changing climate means we will see more summer droughts in the coming decades".

The agency added that while there was no official drought yet, there was a "medium risk" of a summer drought without sustained rainfall.

The government plans to introduce legislation that would automatically classify projects "fundamental to our national water resilience" as being "nationally significant", DEFRA said.

"We are... intervening in the national interest and slashing red tape to make the planning process faster to unblock nine new reservoirs," water minister Emma Hardy said.

According to DEFRA, no new water reservoirs have been built since 1992.

The government is hoping to streamline the building of a reservoir in northeastern Lincolnshire by 2040, and one in East Anglia by 2036.

Water companies have pledged to deliver seven other reservoirs by 2050, according to DEFRA.