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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to put in contingencies in areas that have sudden water outages.

Water companies have a statutory duty to provide a supply of wholesome water under the Water Industry Act 1991 and associated water quality regulations. Additionally, the Security and Emergency Measures Direction 2022 (SEMD) requires companies to ensure continuation of their water distribution functions during an emergency.

Water companies are also Category Two Responders under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) and have statutory duties to plan for emergencies. As Category Two Responders water companies are members of their Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) and work in partnership to understand risk and develop contingencies such as response plans.

Defra has a work programme of strategy, policy, research, operational and regulatory enforcement activity dedicated to improving the resilience of the water sector. This includes the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) who regulate water company performance against SEMD requirements. They have a range of tools to hold companies to account, including serving companies with enforcement orders.

Most sudden water outages are managed at a local level by the affected water company in conjunction with other LRF members as appropriate. However, where the scale or complexity of an incident demands central government co-ordination or support, Defra will provide this to facilitate all relevant parties to work together effectively.

The Independent Water Commission made several recommendations on increasing resilience across the water sector and on strengthening the enforcement powers available to the regulator for SEMD. The Government is preparing to respond to these recommendations and our White Paper will set out more detail on our approach.