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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what new measures the department is bringing in to improve water quality monitoring, as mentioned by the Minister for Water and Flooding in the Oral Statement on 16th October 2026.

In response to severe drought, Government has instructed water companies to monitor reservoir and river levels daily and strengthen water quality monitoring. The Environment Agency will increase abstraction compliance checks, undertake site-specific downstream monitoring and visual inspections, deploy fish rescue teams where needed, while local resilience forums will coordinate support.