Water Supply

(asked on 13th May 2019) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimates his Department has made of increased demand on water supply over the next (a) 10 and (b) 20 years; and what his policy is to meet that increase in demand.


Answered by
Thérèse Coffey Portrait
Thérèse Coffey
This question was answered on 17th May 2019

Public water supply demand, with no water company interventions, is estimated to increase by 506 Ml/d over the next ten years and 972 Ml/d over the next twenty years. If demand management actions included in the recent revised draft water company water resource management plans (WRMPs) are taken, demand is estimated to decrease. Based on WRMP data, the Environment Agency estimates there will be reductions of 783 Ml/d in the next ten years and 1073 Ml/d in the next twenty years.

The region with the highest demand is the South East of England. The region with the lowest water demand is the North East of England. This is the case for both the next ten and twenty years.

The Government is working closely with the water regulators and the water industry to ensure future water demand is met sustainably and water supplies remain secure. The Government recognises continued action is required, and it is committed to a ‘twin track approach’ of managing water demand, including leakage reduction, and increasing supply, in parallel.

In the case of large nationally significant infrastructure, the Government’s National Policy Statement for water resources infrastructure, currently undergoing parliamentary scrutiny, will streamline the planning permission process.

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