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 likelihood of London and the South East running out of drinking water as a result of over-stressed or polluted water supplies; and whether his Department has a contingency plan in the event of that occurrence.

There is no current risk of London and the South East having no access to drinking water. The Environment Agency's National Framework for Water Resources, published in March 2020, sets out the strategic water needs for England up to 2050. In the South East, action is being taken to provide around an extra 1,765 million litres of water per day by 2050 to address future pressures on drinking water supplies. The pressures include the impacts of climate change, population growth, replacing unsustainable abstractions to improve the environment, and making water supplies more resilient to droughts.

The Government's National Infrastructure Strategy set a requirement for water companies to increase the drought resilience of public water supplies to withstand up to one in 500 year drought events. To achieve this, the Government expects a twin track approach with action to reduce water demand, supported by the proposed Environment Act 2021 water demand targets, and action to develop new supply infrastructure such as reservoirs.

Statutory Water Resources Management Plans set out how water companies will continue to meet their duties of providing secure water supplies, over at least a 25 year period. All water companies will consult on new Water Resources Management Plans at the end of 2022.