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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has undertaken recent research on the potential merits of opening desalination plants to help ensure the resilience of the domestic water supply.

Water companies are responsible for researching and selecting the best value water supply options to sustainably secure water supplies for their customers. Government and regulators require water companies to consider desalination alongside all other water supply and demand management options to meet future water needs, which could amount to an additional 5 billion litres per day by 2055. The latest water company Water Resources Management Plans (WRMPs) contain proposals for 9 new desalination plants.

A list of significant water resources infrastructure projects that water companies propose in their WRMPs, including the desalination plants, is available on GOV.UK.