Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the Environment Agency’s modelling of the average (a) daily and (b) monthly percentage of (i) usable and (ii) deployable capacity in each of the (A) Lower Lee Group and (B) Lower Thames Group reservoirs for drought events that are (1) 1 in 100, (2) 1 in 200 and (3) 1 in 500 years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) does not model how resilient water company owned supply systems are to drought. It is the responsibility of the water companies to ensure that their systems can deliver secure water supplies for customers whilst ensuring they meet their environmental obligations and legal requirements during a drought.
Every 5 years, water companies are required to evidence in their statutory Water Resources Management Plans (WRMP) how they will ensure secure supplies for the next 25 years. This includes consideration of resilience to extreme droughts, population growth, climate change and environmental water needs.
The EA is a statutory consultee for water company WRMPs and reviews the technical analysis undertaken by water companies showing how secure supplies are now (known as the baseline) and what actions are needed to ensure secure supplies in the future. The EA has reviewed Thames Water’s latest draft WRMP and is satisfied with the company’s evidence provided alongside its latest draft WRMP.
I attended the National Drought Group meeting earlier this month on Wednesday 16 October 2024 where I outlined the pressure climate change is having on our water system and that we need to be prepared for all eventualities. This Government is taking decisive action to improve the resilience of our precious water supplies.
For more information on water resource system modelling completed on behalf of Thames Water see the following links:
Library | WRSE - Water Resource South East
method-statement-regional-simulation-model-aug-2021.pdf (wrse.org.uk)
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the Environment Agency’s modelling of average (a) daily and (b) monthly volumetric river flow rates for each gauging station on the Thames from Reading to Kingston for drought events that are (i) 1 in 100, (ii) 1 in 200 and (iii) 1 in 500 years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) does not model flow at gauging stations using drought event return periods. The modelling of flow under a range of climate scenarios is carried out as part of planning by water companies to assess how resilient their supply systems are to droughts. This assessment is set out in their statutory Water Resources Management Plans (WRMP) and Drought Plans.
Thames Water have worked with Water Resources South East (WRSE) regional group to model flow under a range of climate scenarios as a component of regional system simulation modelling which informs their WRMP.
The EA is a statutory consultee for water company WRMPs and reviews the technical analysis undertaken by water companies showing how secure supplies are now (known as the baseline) and what actions are needed to ensure secure supplies in the future.
The EA has reviewed Thames Water’s latest draft WRMP and is satisfied with the company’s evidence provided alongside its latest draft WRMP.
I attended the National Drought Group meeting earlier this month on Wednesday 16 October 2024 where I outlined the pressure climate change is having on our water system and that we need to be prepared for all eventualities. This Government is taking decisive action to improve the resilience of our precious water supplies.
For more information on water resource system modelling completed on behalf of Thames Water see the following links:
wrse-hydrological-modelling-method-statement-november-2022.pdf
method-statement-regional-simulation-model-aug-2021.pdf.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the expected reservoir levels for each Lower Thames reservoir for drought events (a) 1:100 years, (b) 1:200 years and (c) 1:500 years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Public water supply reservoirs are the responsibility of the water companies. The Government has not made such estimates; however we are committed to improving water resilience and we are closely monitoring the delivery of their water resources management plans. Their plans set out how they will continue to provide secure water supplies in the long term.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Teddington Direct River Abstraction project on water quality in its vicinity; and if he will take steps to ensure the adequacy of water quality for swimming in that area.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Teddington Direct River Abstraction (DRA) is a water recycling scheme considered in Thames Water’s draft Water Resources Management Plan 2024 (dWRMP24) and Water Resources South East’s (WRSE) Regional Plan as a supply option for 2030/31.
The Environment Agency has scrutinised WRSE’s plan and has responded to Thames Water’s DWRMP24. Any scheme developed will have to meet environmental requirements. The scheme will need environmental permits that the Environment Agency regulate, and planning consents where the Environment Agency is a statutory consultee.
For Teddington DRA proposal to be taken forward Thames Water will be required to obtain an abstraction license and permit to discharge from the Environment Agency. These set out the conditions under which abstraction is authorised to take place and the standards to which the discharged effluent must be treated, ensuring it is treated to a high standard to meet environmental quality standards and ensure water quality in the Thames does not deteriorate. Thames Water will need to ensure any tertiary water treatment for Teddington DRA meets those regulatory requirements and the Environment Agency will regularly inspect Thames Water to ensure that permit standards are met.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of volumetric river flow rates corresponding to the locations of each gauging station on the Thames from Reading to Kingston.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency operates six river flow gauging stations on the River Thames between Reading and Kingston. These are located at Reading, Maidenhead, Windsor, Staines, Walton and Kingston. The recent daily mean flow at these sites on 11 September 2024 ranged from 12.0 to 28.7 cubic metres per second (m3/s).
River level and flow data can be found via the GOV.UK website: https://environment.data.gov.uk/hydrology.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with Thames Water on the definition of best value in the context of the Teddington DRA and Water Resource Management plan.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Teddington Direct River Abstraction scheme has been selected by Thames Water in its Water Resources Management Plan from one of 2,400 options modelled at a regional level, by Water Resources South East. The options were put through an options appraisal process to develop a preferred best value plan. Both the Environment Agency and Ofwat have assessed the plan.
Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Ofwat joint guidance sets out how water companies should consider assessing best value in their Water Resources Management Plans. It can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/water-resources-planning-guideline/water-resources-planning-guideline#section-9--aspects-to-consider-in-compiling-a-best-value-plan.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing of mandatory quaternary water treatment of wastewater.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra currently has no plans to introduce and make quaternary treatment mandatory for domestic wastewater treatment. Where it is deemed necessary as an additional wastewater treatment process, costs and benefits will be assessed, and stakeholder consultations will be performed through the normal routes.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make quaternary water treatment mandatory for sewage plants serving large populations.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra currently has no plans to make it mandatory for sewage plants to implement quaternary water treatment proposals. If changes are deemed necessary, these will be undertaken through usual consultation routes to assess the costs and benefits of making these changes.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the minutes of meetings that officials in his Department have had with Thames Water on Operation Timber in each of the last 6 months.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Permanent Secretary and senior officials in my department hold meetings with water companies, including Thames Water, on a regular basis to discuss issues affecting the water sector. As water companies are commercial entities, it is neither appropriate to comment on specific water companies, on the frequency of any such meetings nor publish any minutes of those meetings.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Permanent Secretary of his Department last met officials from Thames Water to discuss Operation Timber.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Permanent Secretary and senior officials in my department hold meetings with water companies, including Thames Water, on a regular basis to discuss issues affecting the water sector. As water companies are commercial entities, it is neither appropriate to comment on specific water companies, on the frequency of any such meetings nor publish any minutes of those meetings.