Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of level of risk of a hose-pipe ban in summer 2020; and what his policy is on new reservoir provision.
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Government has a range of policies in place to mitigate the impacts of drought:
The Government is committed to a ‘twin track approach’ of managing water demand, including leakage reduction, and increasing supply, including the development of reservoirs.
Water companies have the statutory duty to develop and maintain efficient and economical systems of water service provision which will provide security of supply for customers. Statutory water resources management plans show how companies will meet this duty and manage water supply and demand for at least the next 25 years.
The National Framework for water resources brings together industry, regulators and Government to improve water company planning of water supplies. This includes investigating and developing new supplies such as reservoirs, supported by a £469 million fund for the development of strategic supplies.