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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the abstraction licences relating to the abstraction of water from (1) Thirlmere Reservoir, (2) Kielder Reservoir, and (3) Haweswater Reservoir.

The Environment Agency maintains a register (The Water Abstraction and Impounding register) of all abstraction licences under the requirements of section 189 of the Water Resources Act 1991 and prescribed by Regulation 34 of SI 2006/641, the Water Resources (Abstraction & Impounding) Regulations 2006.

The Environment Agency does not routinely publish the licences because these include the precise locations of abstraction points for public water supply which cannot be made generally available on national security and public safety grounds.

The Kielder agreement is a Section 20 Water Resources Operating Agreement between the Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water Limited which has been in operation since 1989. It describes how the water should be released from Kielder to secure the proper use of water resources.

Due to the operating agreement there is no abstraction licence relating to the abstraction of water from Kielder. Releases are made from the reservoir to support abstractions from rivers downstream and, via the Kielder transfer tunnel, from other rivers in the north east area.