Water: Supply and Infrastructure

Lord Rooker Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Rooker]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure sufficient supply of water, and what assessment they have made of the adequacy of water infrastructure in this regard.

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Katz) (Lab)]

My Lords, statutory water resource management plans set out how water companies intend to deliver a secure supply of water. Water companies are required to publish new plans every five years. The 2024 plans have been scrutinised by the Environment Agency and Ofwat to ensure that companies can meet future challenges. The UK and Welsh Governments’ Independent Water Commission will recommend reforms to reset the water sector. It will report by summer 2025.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that Answer—his first Oral Answer from the Dispatch Box—and I hope all the others are as good as that. Is it correct that, at the current rates of consumption, by 2050 this country will be 5 billion litres of water a day short—that is one-third of our supply—and that the rumoured answer to this, which I approve of, is that we need nine new reservoirs? Is this is confirmed? Given our pathetic infrastructure work in this country, should we not get started quickly?

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that question. He is correct that we are predicted to get to a 5 billion litre a day water supply demand gap by 2050. However, I am pleased to tell him that he is also correct to mention that we are developing nine new reservoirs, in addition to the Havant Thicket reservoir, which is already under way and will be online by 2032. The Government secured a record level of investment in water infrastructure, with £104 billion of investment to be delivered between April 2025 and the end of March 2030. Reservoirs are just part of the story: they sit alongside other water schemes, such as transfer pipelines, nine new desalination projects and seven new recycling schemes. In fact, while they are important, the real prize in terms of closing that huge supply and demand gap is 65% more effective demand management, including tackling leakage.