From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englisha drain on somethinga drain on somethingUSE/CONSUMEsomething that continuously uses a lot of time, money etc The war was an enormous drain on the country’s resources. → drain
Examples from the Corpus
drain on ... resources• Surely it would be a drain on Party resources that it can ill afford.• A second cost to the Free Church of its political involvement is a drain on leadership resources.• It is a drain on their resources.• The parish is a drain on resources, no doubt about it.• As in many areas, an increasingly ageing population was becoming an added drain on scant resources.• This unexpected added drain on his resources was stretching his bank balance to the limit, and beyond.• A costly and illogical drain on its scant resources.• William I had introduced knight service, a repeated drain on local resources. 