The source of the River Thames has completely dried up as parts of England are hit by drought conditions.
Pictures from the mouth of the spot in the Cotswold reveal the exposed river bed that was once filled with water.
Given that the source has shifted more than two miles (four kilometers) downstream - from Thames Head near Cirencester in Gloucestershire - it is unclear when the full length of the river will flow again.
With months of little rainfall, this has left rivers at exceptionally low levels, depleted reservoirs and dried out soils.
The Met Office has also warned there is “very little meaningful rain” on the horizon, as temperatures are set to climb into the 30s in another predicted heatwave next week.
Meanwhile, Thames Water has worryingly announced that its desalination plant in Beckton, East London is now out of service.
It was built to turn salt water into fresh water so people can drink and use it, and was meant to deliver up to 100 million litres of water a day during dry weather events.
Speaking about the desalination plant being out of order, a Thames Water Gateway Water Treatment Works spokesperson said: "Due to further necessary planned work the plant is currently out of service.
"Our teams are working as fast as possible to get it ready for use early next year, to achieve protection to our supplies if we were to have another dry winter.
"However, even if the Gateway water treatment works was operational this summer then we would still not rule out using temporary use bans as part of the next stage of our regional drought plan, due to the weather patterns we have seen this year and levels of customer usage."
Thames Water added it would need to deal with greater pressure for water in the face of climate change, a larger population, greater drought and environmental protections in the future - but does not envisage further desalination plants being built.
The water firm also said that even if the plant had been working this summer, it would not have ruled out bringing in a hosepipe ban due to the ongoing dry weather.
The UK recorded its driest July since 1935 last month. Despite this, Thames Water has not yet introduced a hosepipe ban.
The water services company supplies 2.6 billion litres of water to more than 10 million customers across London and Thames Valley each day.
However, Southern Water has already announced a hosepipe ban - which will come into force today.
It asked customers “to limit your use to reduce the risk of further restrictions and disruption to water supplies, but more importantly to protect our local rivers”.
