Water minister defends drought planning amid concerns for farmers

Water minister Emma Hardy has defended the government’s drought planning, as MPs raised concerns over the impact on farmers. Severe drought was declared in parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex on Thursday, with residents urged to “use water wisely”. The South East and South West have experienced their driest April to September for more than a century, affecting reservoirs in the areas, officials said. Water companies have been told to step up drought planning amid efforts to protect public water supplies. Ardingly reservoir in Sussex with low levels of water. Credit: iStock The drought has been at a level not seen for decades and is putting immense pressure on water supplies, Hardy told the Commons in an emergency statement on Friday. Shadow environment, food and rural affairs minister Robbie Moore said the drought “should not have caught the Government off guard”. He criticised Hardy for failing to mention the impact drought is having on UK farmers and growers during her statement. Hardy had earlier said: “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 becoming the norm. “We are at the start of a decade-long journey into 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.” Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. Water companies have been told to conduct daily monitoring of reservoir and river levels and tougher water quality monitoring, and the Environment Agency will increase compliance checks on businesses that abstract water to check they are only taking permitted amounts. The Environment Agency has been told to prioritise protecting public water supplies in areas affected by severe drought where there are unavoidable trade-offs with environmental rules, to allow water companies to keep more supplies in depleted reservoirs. Moore accused the government of being “slow to react”, adding: “This is the third drought in five years. “It should not have caught the government off guard. But here we are on a sitting Friday, listening to the water minister roll out an emergency statement, effectively saying she’s been busy having meetings. “Our communities, our farmers, our businesses are facing severe challenges today.” Parts of England in severe drought as water supplies ‘under immense pressure’ Exclusive 'Environment Agency rule change leads to rise in utility's pollution incidents' Hardy replied: “There are many things I can do, unfortunately, I can’t make it rain. But what I can do is ensure that this government is prepared, and that is exactly what we’ve been doing. “Going back to February this year, Defra and Cobra ran a cross-government drought exercise to test the current response arrangements with lessons learned from the previous year. “So we have been planning for this since I came into government because this government actually believes that climate change is real. “We are not the government of climate change deniers. We are not the government that wishes to repeal the Climate Change Act and that thinks that actually, when it’s sunny, we should be just enjoying more barbecues.” The severe drought declaration was prompted by concerns about two major reservoirs that supply hundreds of thousands of customers, and have seen water levels drop far below what would be expected at this time of year. Ardingly in West Sussex, which supplies about 95,000 properties served by South East Water in Haywards Heath, Uckfield and the surrounding areas, is at 19% capacity. Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. Wimbleball in Somerset, which provides for about 300,000 South West Water and Wessex Water customers in east and north Devon, Somerset and west Dorset, is 16% full. The Environment Agency said it would expect the reservoirs to be at 75% at this time of year. Moore pressed the government to publish a timeframe for each of the nine reservoirs it has committed to over the next 10 years. Liberal Democrat Al Pinkerton, MP for Surrey Heath, urged the government to “act now and at speed” and for water companies to “cut leakage” – warning that the agricultural industry is in “jeopardy”. Hardy said the government has allocated £15 million to on-farm reservoirs and making it easier to build them under the planning system. Have you heard our podcast Talking Politics? Tom and Robert dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda in every episode…