Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the additional water storage capacity that will be required in the West Midlands over the next 20 years to meet projected population growth and climate change pressures.

Through its water resources management plan, Severn Trent Water has selected a new West Midlands raw water storage reservoir to provide 32.5 million litres per day from 2040 onwards. This is expected to use an existing quarry site to abstract and hold higher flows from the River Severn.

Severn Trent have considered multiple reservoir enlargements. It is due to finish its Draycote reservoir expansion later this year, holding an additional 1.4 million cubic meters – an extra 9 million litres per day. By 2050 it plans to expand Tittesworth reservoir and Whitacre Minor dam – a further 17 million litres per day.