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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the capacity of water reservoirs in Yorkshire to meet future demand; and if she will make a statement.

Reservoir stocks and river flows in Yorkshire are declining, following recent warm and dry months. However, the current rate of decline is much better than 2022, with Yorkshire Water’s prospects submission indicating that temporary use bans are unlikely to be required this summer.

Planning is essential to ensure that we meet Yorkshire’s future demands and current legislation ensures the water industry deals with climate change challenges, population growth and protecting the environment. Companies must plan for new supplies, and work hard to achieve the ambitious water saving objectives our Government has set, ensuring a twin track approach to water supply and demand.

Yorkshire Water is expected to optimise its system of river, groundwater and reservoirs sources to meet demands. The likely demands and supplies are being modelled by the company and are set out in the statutory plans water companies are required to, and are currently, producing. Reservoirs are managed for that purpose with the company making assessment of capacity and supplies. These plans include customers’ views and look 25 years minimum into the future, setting out the investment needed to meet future demands. They are assessed by my department, including the Environment Agency, Natural England and regulators such as the Drinking Water Inspectorate and Ofwat. The Environment Agency has recently provided comment on all water company draft Water Management Plans, including Yorkshire Water’s.

Defra recently published its Plan for Water which set out the importance of ensuring a clean and plentiful water supply. The National Framework for Water Resources, published in March 2020, outlined England’s future water needs across sectors and by region up to 2050, including public water supplies; direct abstraction for agriculture, electricity production and industry; and the water needs of the environment. The Framework proposes the scale of action needed to ensure resilient water supplies are available to meet the needs of future users; and introduces a greater level of ambition for restoring, protecting and improving the environment which sources of all our supplies.