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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the role that desalination plants may need to play in ensuring the long-term resilience and security of public water supplies in England; and whether she plans to set out the circumstances in which the Government considers additional desalination capacity necessary.

Water companies set out how they plan to continue to supply water to their customers through statutory Water Resources Management Plans (WRMPs). Within their plans, water companies must consider all options, including demand management and new water resources infrastructure, such as desalination.

Each type of water resources infrastructure comes with challenges, whether that is land-take for reservoirs, or treatment and pumping costs for transfers or desalination. Water company WRMPs process is where such questions are considered. The Environment Agency’s summary of the WRMPs sets out the desalination plants proposed by water companies in England (see table 8): Appendix C: Revised draft water resources management plans supply options - GOV.UK.