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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following reports that Wolverhampton and Shropshire face failure of their water supplies, what steps they are taking to reduce demand and leakage, and to secure supplies, both in the short term in response to dry weather and high usage reportedly due to lockdown, and in the longer term.

The current water supply issues in Wolverhampton and Shropshire are due to constraints in Severn Trent Water's distribution network, and not a lack of available water. Severn Trent Water has responded to the issue by asking customers to use water wisely to reduce demand. The CEO of Severn Trent Water attended the National Drought Group chaired by the Environment Agency on 5 June 2020 to discuss the current risks and approaches to the dry weather and water demand management.

If the company has issues with available water resources it will activate its statutory Drought Plan to manage the situation. In the long term, the water company will need to assess how it manages its supply and demand, including proactively reducing leakage and managing demand through its statutory Water Resources Management Plan. In addition, through its business plan that it submits to Ofwat it will need to assess whether it has the correct infrastructure to cope with future demands from customers.