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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Department has made of the potential regulatory implications of treating water stress and water efficiency as separate classifications; and whether her Department plans to require Ofwat to link leakage performance to water stress designations.

Defra has not made any assessment of the regulatory implications of treating water stress and water efficiency as separate classifications. The department defines serious water stress as ‘the current household demand for water is a high proportion of the current effective rainfall which is available to meet that demand; or, the future household demand for water is likely to be a high proportion of the effective rainfall which is likely to be available to meet that demand’ and water efficiency as practices that reduce the demand on potable water.

The department does not plan to link leakage performance to water stress designations as we continue to drive reform in both individual areas.

Defra concluded a consultation on revising the water efficiency standards in the Building Regulations in December last year. As part of our response to the consultation, Defra will be assessing how water stressed classifications are used to drive water efficiency in homes.

In the Water White Paper released this month, Defra committed to enabling smart metering implementation, which includes reviewing how charging scenarios differ for water stress classified areas and the ways in which this drives water efficiency.