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

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans to take urgent steps to tackle drought, abstraction and pollution relating to the Chilterns Chalk Streams; and whether any such steps will involve putting OFWAT's voluntary abstraction incentive mechanism on a statutory basis.

The Environment Agency is working with partners to protect and restore the Chilterns Chalk Streams. Where investigations have shown that levels of abstraction are unsustainable, the Agency works with Affinity Water to reduce pumping.

Since 2016, abstraction for drinking water has been reduced on 5 Chilterns Chalk Streams with further reductions planned by 2025. This will mean that up to 70 million litres of water per day will be kept in the natural environment, improving flows and making the rivers more resilient to drought and periods of prolonged dry weather.

The Government’s strategic policy statement sets a clear objective for Ofwat to challenge companies to further the resilience of ecosystems that underpin water and wastewater systems. We expect Ofwat to challenge business plans that are weak on ecosystem resilience, including their abstraction incentive mechanism (AIM) proposals. From 2016/17, companies are required to report annually on their AIM performance. From 2020, companies will have stronger, financial incentives to improve their AIM performance or risk incurring financial penalties.