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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of demand for water abstraction.

On 16 March 2020, the Environment Agency published Meeting our Future Water Needs: a National Framework for Water Resources. The report is available on GOV.UK here. This report explores England’s long term water needs, setting out the scale of action needed to ensure resilient supplies and an improved water environment.

Key findings of the report show that if no action is taken between 2025 and 2050, around 3,435 million extra litres of water per day will be needed for public water supply. This includes:

• 1,150 Ml/d to make water supplies more resilient to drought
• 1,040 Ml/d to supply the growing population
• 720 Ml/d to replace unsustainable abstractions and improve the environment
• 400 Ml/d to address the impact of climate change on water availability – water companies have also allowed for 640 Ml/d in their plans to 2025 which is before the start date for this analysis