Water: Supply and Infrastructure

Duke of Wellington Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that question. He is correct that we are predicted to get to a 5 billion litre a day water supply demand gap by 2050. However, I am pleased to tell him that he is also correct to mention that we are developing nine new reservoirs, in addition to the Havant Thicket reservoir, which is already under way and will be online by 2032. The Government secured a record level of investment in water infrastructure, with £104 billion of investment to be delivered between April 2025 and the end of March 2030. Reservoirs are just part of the story: they sit alongside other water schemes, such as transfer pipelines, nine new desalination projects and seven new recycling schemes. In fact, while they are important, the real prize in terms of closing that huge supply and demand gap is 65% more effective demand management, including tackling leakage.

[The Duke of Wellington (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister just mentioned 2050. It is a fact, unfortunately, that the government target for reducing leakage by 2050 is only 50% from the current level of leakage, which is, of course, far greater than it should be. Does the Minister agree that we ought to have a more ambitious target than simply reducing by 50% the current very high level of leakage by 2050?

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I thank the noble Duke for his question. Leakage is at its lowest level in two decades and in December last year Ofwat allocated £720 million as part of its 2024 price review investment package to continue work to reduce leakage, focusing on things such as smart technologies and better data. The important thing to bear in mind is that the package supports continuing progress now on reducing leakage, with a requirement for companies to cut leakage by 17% between 2025 and 2030. It is important that we take action on this important issue now as well as trying to meet those long-term targets.