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

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have considered using High Speed 2 as a conduit for a pipeline for pumping water from areas with an excess supply of water to those which are under-supplied.

The Government recognises the need to increase long term security of water supplies. The Government has committed to a ‘twin track approach’ to improving water resilience in its Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat and in the 25 Year Environment Plan.

The Government is developing a national policy statement for water resources, which will set out the need for and streamline the delivery of nationally significant water resources infrastructure including water transfers.

The National Infrastructure Assessment published by the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) confirmed that strategic transfers are a necessary part of improving the security of water supplies.

Water companies have recently consulted on their draft water resources management plans. None have proposed a scheme using HS2 to transfer water as a preferred option. Each company faces different challenges in maintaining their supply-demand balance and it is for the individual company to decide how best to meet this requirement.