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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she will make an assessment of the a) resilience and b) capacity of the local water provision following shortages in the Weybridge area.

Water companies have a statutory duty to provide a secure supply of water for customers. Companies set out how they will continue to meet this duty through statutory Water Resources Management Plans. They must maintain their plans and are required to review the plans to take account of changes, such as new housing growth.

In the Water White Paper, the Government set out our commitment to developing statutory resilience standards, which will be brought forward through the Clean Water Bill announced in the King’s Speech.

These standards will require companies to undertake long-term assessments of their water supply and sewerage assets and systems. Alongside a reformed approach to setting funding and incentives for asset maintenance, these standards will safeguard customer services in the context of a changing climate as well as population growth and other pressures.