Contribution
Before I turn to the statement, I would like to add my voice to the many others offering sympathy and support to the family of Sir David Amess in the week of the anniversary of his murder. It was always a real pleasure to work with him on the all-party parliamentary group on endometriosis. He is remembered very fondly.
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish to update the House on the ongoing drought in England. Drought conditions continue across much of England. Last week Yorkshire moved into drought status. That means that over 80% of England is now in drought, affecting around 50 million people. The south-east and south-west in particular have experienced their driest April to September in over a century, with low rainfall causing exceptionally low reservoir levels in parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex.
As of 15 October, Wimbleball reservoir is approximately 16% full—its lowest recorded level for this time of year. Other reservoirs in the south-west are also at exceptionally low levels, including those serving the Roadford and Colliford water resource zones, and Ardingly reservoir, for example, is around 20% full.
As a result, yesterday the Government declared severe drought in the affected water resource zones around Wimbleball, Ardingly, Roadford and Colliford, and in west Cornwall. I have issued a ministerial direction to the Environment Agency to prioritise protecting public water supplies in areas affected by severe drought where there is an unavoidable trade-off between environmental rules and water supplies. That will allow water companies to keep more water in depleted reservoirs. The Environment Agency has also agreed temporary measures that will conserve water in Wimbleball and extend the resilience of public water supplies.
Severe drought is the highest classification in the Environment Agency’s drought framework. While customer supplies are not interrupted, declaring a severe drought allows us to ensure that proactive steps are taken to safeguard water before any disruption occurs. We have instructed water companies to conduct daily monitoring of reservoir and river levels and tougher water quality monitoring. The Environment Agency will increase compliance checks on businesses that withdraw water from natural sources to ensure that they are only taking permitted quantities of water. Local resilience forums will be stood up to enable quick and effective development of support if required.
Although water companies remain responsible for maintaining public water supplies and for taking action under their drought and emergency plans, we can all help by thinking about ways to use water wisely over the coming weeks. However, this level of drought is something that we have not experienced for decades, so it is right that the Government step up our support and work closely with water companies to protect public supplies in the areas affected.
Over recent days, I have met with those leading efforts to protect water supplies in affected areas, including Wimbleball. On Wednesday I visited Wimbleball reservoir, where I met South West Water, Wessex Water, local resilience forums and Environment Agency teams to discuss the actions they are taking to protect public water supply. Yesterday I met the chief executive of South East Water and representatives from the Environment Agency to review conditions at Ardingly reservoir and the response in the south-east. I have also spoken with Members of Parliament who represent affected constituencies and sent letters explaining the steps that they can take to support our resilience efforts in their local areas.
This week I chaired the first meeting of the Government’s new flood and drought resilience taskforce, bringing together over 50 stakeholders to strengthen the nation’s ability to plan for and respond to extreme weather, and I continue to oversee response measures through weekly national drought group meetings, to track that all necessary actions are taken to conserve water resources and maintain resilience.
While the record-breaking heat and lack of rainfall have put our water resources under immense pressure this year, we must take action now to prevent this situation from becoming the norm. We are at the start of a decade-long journey to a very different water system, including nine new major reservoirs to secure supplies. I will continue to take the action needed to protect essential public water supplies and, of course, I will continue to keep the House and Members informed as the situation develops.