Water Supply: Yorkshire and the Humber

(asked on 9th June 2021) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential risk of water shortages in Yorkshire within the next 25 years as a result of population growth and climate change; and what steps his Department is taking to address that risk.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 18th June 2021

Water companies have a statutory duty to provide a secure water supply for customers by developing and maintaining efficient and economical systems of water service provision.

Statutory water resources management plans show how water companies will meet this duty by managing water supply and demand for at least the next 25 years. The plans must take account of the implications of population growth and climate change. The plans must be subject to public consultation, including with statutory consultees Ofwat and the Environment Agency before the Secretary of State allows their publication.

Yorkshire Water published its water resources management plan in 2020. The plan must be reviewed annually and revised at least every five years.

The Environment Bill will enhance the water resources management planning processes. The measures will complement the Environment Agency's National Framework for water resources, published in 2020, which sets out England's future water needs and our expectations for how regional groups will inform the delivery of those needs, including Water Resources North informing Yorkshire Water's water resources management plan. The measures will allow improved collaboration between water companies and with other water users, to aid environmental improvement and the sustainable use of water resources.

The Environment Bill will also give the Environment Agency additional powers to vary or revoke permanent abstraction licences without the liability to pay compensation where it is necessary to protect the environment from damage, or where the licence holder has abstracted at least 25% less water than their licensed volume (underused their licence) in every year over the previous 12-year period. The Environment Agency already have powers to vary or revoke water company abstraction licences without being liable to pay compensation but these additional powers will tackle unsustainable abstraction from other water abstractors.

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