Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for its polices of a report by the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health in January 2021 on dams at risk due to aging; and whether he has had discussions with international counterparts on estimating the costs of strengthening the resilience of large water storage dams and mitigating the risks of flooding posed by aging water infrastructure.

The UK recognises the value of water storage for many purposes; the importance of its operation, maintenance and safety inspection and the need to address aging infrastructure - the report from the UN University is welcome. Our approach to water infrastructure is within our water security policy which we have discussed with international counterparts at, for example, World Water Week and we maintain close relationships with partner countries and international organisations monitoring critical infrastructure for example on seismic safety of large dams. We expect and encourage our partners to adopt a full life cycle approach to infrastructure including maintenance, consideration of aging and, where appropriate, decommissioning. Strengthening resilience of infrastructure itself and supporting infrastructure for resilient communities and economies are priorities. We note the recommendations of the report and will discuss them further with stakeholders.