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

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to revise the minimum capacity of large raised reservoirs as set out in the Reservoir Act 1975.

Safety regulation applies to raised reservoirs holding 25,000m³ or more of water. Research over the next two years gathering evidence about reservoirs storing between 10,000m³ and 25,000m³ of water - their number, condition and hazard posed for communities downstream - will inform a decision whether to reduce the threshold to 10,000m³. Regulation, if taken forward, would also be dependent on a new reservoir safety regime being established.