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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment was made of the relative requirements of the Lee Valley reservoirs compared with the Northern Lower Thames reservoirs in times of drought in 2022.

In 2022 the Environment Agency declared a drought in south east England. This resulted in lower than average flows in the River Thames, reducing the volumes that could be abstracted and stored in reservoirs in London, including the Queen Mary, Queen Mother and Wraysbury reservoirs.