HC Deb 24 February 1992 vol 204 cc788-94

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Boswell.]

10.49 pm
Mr. Patrick Thompson (Norwich, North)

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise the subject of drought and water depletion in East Anglia. My staff and I did not realise how much information was available and we have been positively inundated with information and technical material.

I thank my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment for attending the debate and I hope that he will respond positively to the various points I shall raise. I should also like to thank Anglian Water, the National Rivers Authority, the National Farmers Union, Norfolk county council, the Council for the Protection of Rural England and others who have provided me with a great deal of information. That has enabled me to present a speech full of material and I hope that it will stimulate debate.

The purpose of tonight's debate is to highlight the drought in East Anglia and to press for further debate, education and long-term planning so that the threat to water supplies, caused by increasing demand and possible climate change, can be averted.

It is not so many months ago that I had a debate in the early hours of the morning on global warming. There is a link between that and drought. At a recent conference at the United Nations, the organiser, Gordon Young, said: A change in climate may mean changes in precipitation patterns and quantities, changes in evaporation and, consequently dramatic changes in water resources. Rivers may flow less predictably, with altered discharges. He also said that there would be just as important consequences for ground-water supplies. The question of climate change is relevant when one thinks about the long-term future of our water supplies.

In the county of Norfolk there is increasing discussion among the press, farmers, business men and consumers about water depletion. Everywhere I go in Norfolk people continually remind me of the fact that we are, for some reason, exporting water from Norfolk via Thetford to the more populated areas of Cambridge. That is a controversial practice and people are arguing about it because it is causing concern.

The university of East Anglia's school of environmental sciences is embarking on a three-year research contract funded by the NRA. The object of that research is to look at the relationship between climate change and river flows in East Anglia over 20 years. That research will use the inter-disciplinary approach, which is a particular strength of the university. This is an opportunity to draw attention to the good work that is done at the school of environmental sciences. That research will address whether there has been a real deterioration in river flows in that 20 years.

The drought has now entered its 43rd month according to the NRA and the facts about water depletion during that time are staggering. The authority reported recently that the 41 months to the end of December proved to be the longest dry period this century with only 79 per cent. of normal rainfall. Furthermore, rainfall was below average in 32 months, average in two months and above average in seven months only. The results of those statistics suggest that an accumulative deficit of approximately 18 inches developed during that time.

Those 18 inches represent nine full months of rainfall for the region. East Anglia has suffered in particular, because it is acknowledged to be one of the driest areas with an annual rainfall of 600 mm only. The current demand for rainfall demands 200 per cent. over the average in the next three months in order to achieve levels prevailing prior to the drought. That dramatic increase is an impossibility according to the NRA and all other groups monitoring the situation. If there were such a dramatic increase in rainfall it would cause serious flooding and other damage to the environment.

Those to whom I have spoken generally agree that there needs to be stricter control over abstraction licences. In the past few weeks when I have been studying the subject, I have become increasingly aware of the apparent abuses in the water industry involving over-abstraction. The drought has been affected by abstraction to an extent that merits further study and possible re-evaluation. The University of East Anglia has begun the process of studying the effects of gravel extraction, sewage and farming on the flow rates of the Wensum, the Nar and the Bure rivers. Its work is an important starting point for determining what has led to the drought in East Anglia, over and above the lack of rainfall. We are studying whether the drought is caused by over-use of the water supply or by population flows into the region and house building.

There is a serious lack of knowledge about domestic water conservation. I believe, as do many people, that water metering must be introduced as quickly as possible. I therefore support the campaign by the Council for the Protection of Rural England and others for better water management. I also support the idea of a two-part tariff, where charges increase for excess use, which will promote water conservation and, at the same time, be fair to less well off consumers.

I reject the argument that the cost of introducing water meters is such that it would not be worth while for individual consumers to pay that capital cost because they would not recoup it in their lifetime. We must encourage Anglian Water and water authorities throughout the country to introduce metering as fast as possible. I have some knowledge of its use in France where it works well, is popular and results in cheaper bills for many people. Let us get a move on with water metering.

Ground water extraction has reached its highest level in the history of East Anglia. The growth in extraction is a response to present and future population increases. The planning policies of the Department of the Environment and local councils have been challenged regularly in the local press, the media and local debates as the seriousness of the water supply problem has become clearer.

Does my hon. Friend the Minister agree that we must look at the law and practice involved in licence distribution? The current drought, coupled with over-licensing, has severely damaged rivers and therefore streams. Over-extraction means more than water depletion. Concern is also being expressed about its effects on the ecosystem in Norfolk generally. Unfortunately, I do not have time in this short debate to give chapter and verse examples, but my hon. Friend the Minister will be aware of them, as much publicity has been given to them.

I am informed that the National Rivers Authority has granted licences to almost every application from Anglian Water over the past year, which shows the need for careful monitoring of current practices. The National Rivers Authority originally turned down an application in Norfolk on the grounds that the proposed increase in abstraction would significantly affect low flows in the nearby water course, and that the impact upon the fishery, local amenity and the maintenance of water quality downstream of East Rudham sewage treatment works would be unacceptable". My hon. Friend the Minister may not be aware that his officials at the Department of the Environment reversed that decision on appeal. That causes me even more concern than the point that I put a few moments ago.

In the midst of the current drought, there has been no decline in the number of licences being distributed. There is therefore a strong case for a moratorium on all new licences until resources are allowed to replenish themselves.

A recent article in the Eastern Daily Press—it was written by Roger Southwell of the National Farmers Union—took up the issue of agriculture and irrigation. Time does not allow me to quote the article but it is important to realise that a long-term irrigation plan is needed. During the past few weeks I have been convinced by discussions that irrigation is important to agriculture and that it is important to educate the public to appreciate the significance of that. If irrigation were to stop, there would be higher food prices and job losses, for example. As I have said, there must be a plan for irrigation. It is not good enough to say that it can be switched on and off, as it were. There must be a long-term plan. The need for that was emphasised in the article to which I have referred. It is the NRA that imposes irrigation restrictions whereas the Anglian water authority controls the watering of gardens, golf courses and so on.

If there is difficulty in finding water for irrigation, in spite of the importance which I attach to irrigation, as do farmers in Norfolk, the authorities have a duty to provide incentives to farmers to build their own storage facilities. After all, ground water is available during the winter. It should be feasible for those who are involved in farming or horticulture to build storage facilities so that more water is available for irrigation if the effects of drought are to continue in the longer term.

The NRA had distributed a launch-of-options study, which clearly outlines a plan for future water demand management. Indeed, the purpose of my speech is to get across the idea that we need a long-term plan for water demand management and control. The NRA has produced a good report but one aspect of it disturbs me. Unfortunately, I do not have time to quote from the report, but there is constant reference to there being no single solution, to there being no great urgency and to studies taking a great deal of time. That approach concerns me. The message that I want to convey to the NRA through my hon. Friend the Minister, and perhaps in other ways, is that although the study is good, and the ideas set out in it are acceptable, it is unfortunate that it does not highlight a sense of urgency. I therefore make a plea to the NRA to show a greater sense of urgency in its approach to these matters.

If we are to solve the problems that stem from water shortage, assuming that they continue into the future as a result of climate change or population increase, or for whatever other reason, it is important that people are educated to conserve water by using water-efficient appliances and by encouraging general reductions in consumption. These are the tools that we can use to begin an effective campaign to increase public knowledge. Future home owners should be encouraged to understand the basics of water usage. A long-term conservation campaign should start now. I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will have something to say about that, especially as I do not have time to say much about such a campaign.

The Council for the Protection of Rural England and the NRA, in presenting their case for demand management of water supply, have discussed the imbalance in the distribution of available water resources in different parts of the country. In the longer term, I believe that there will need to be inter-regional transfers, even if there is not a national network of pipelines. I have even heard it suggested that when the extra carriageway is built on the A1—an important north-south road—the opportunity should be taken to lay a pipeline. That makes sense. After all, the sort of transfer that I am talking about is common in the Mediterranean and in other areas. Many of us have gone sightseeing in Provence and seen the Pont du Gard and other great works built many years ago. If that could be done then, it can be done now. Long distance water transfer must be considered seriously.

While I am on the subject of major projects that may have to be considered. I would like to mention the Wash barrage. Recent correspondence in the local press has asked why, 20 years ago, we did not grasp the opportunity to build that barrage. Many of our problems of water supply and flood control in Fenland would not be costing us so much now if the requisite investment had been put into the Wash barrage some years ago.

We have an eccentric approach to public finance in this country. It may have something to do with the way in which the Treasury works. We do not seem to be able to spend big money now to save even greater expenditure in the future. I know that my hon. Friend is not in a position to respond to that more general point, but we need to think long term. If large investments are necessary for the long term, we may save ourselves money by making those investments.

The problems in East Anglia and elsewhere are the legacy of a failure to recognise the problems soon enough and to get our strategy for the future right. I hope to be able to persuade my hon. Friend and others responsible that ad hoc responses will not suffice; long-term strategic planning and action are required, in all the ways that I have mentioned in this brief survey. I look forward to my hon. Friend's response, and I thank him once again for being here.

11.7 pm

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Tony Baldry)

My hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Mr. Thompson) has done the House a service by raising this subject tonight and setting out the issues with characteristic clarity of thought and balance of argument. I welcome the opportunity to explain the problems being caused by the current dry spell both throughout the country as a whole and, more particularly, in East Anglia.

The national situation is difficult and is under constant review. Over the last three and a half years rainfall has been below average. Never since records began has a spell of this nature extended beyond two consecutive years. Nineteen eighty nine was the driest year since 1976; and the 13-month period to March 1991 was the third driest this century. The period from November 1988 to January 1992 was the driest for over 200 years in the Anglian region, an area which in average conditions is also the driest in the United Kingdom. Over the last six months, rainfall over England and Wales has been about 35 per cent. below average while the December and January rainfall was the third lowest this century. No one should be in any doubt about the scale of the challenge, therefore.

The situation next summer will be heavily influenced by the amount of rainfall over the next two months. If it is not well above average, eastern and south-east England could face a critical situation. These weather conditions, particularly in the east of England, have brought home the fact that our water is valuable and is a finite resource.

In the Water Act 1989, this Government ensured the proper stewardship of water by appointing a separate body, the National Rivers Authority, with responsibility for judicious management of resources, balancing the demands of users against the need to maintain and enhance the water environment. The NRA has clear and coherent statutory powers. The largest users of water are the water companies which, under the Act and subsequent consolidating legislation, have in their licences responsibility for the adequacy and quality of public water supplies.

What is being done to safeguard the public from the effects of dry weather? It goes without saying that, whatever else the Government can do, they cannot make it rain. If it rains heavily and consistently over the next two months, the problem will become much less widespread. If it does not, we shall be faced with another summer of restrictions and possibly shortages in many southern and eastern areas.

I must re-emphasise the roles of the NRA and the water companies. Under section 19 of the Water Resources Act 1991 The NRA has a duty to conserve, redistribute and otherwise augment water resources in England and Wales while, under section 37 of the Water Industry Act 1991, the companies must develop and maintain an efficient and economical system of water supply in their areas. My Department has a supervisory role over them, but the NRA and the water companies must play the active part by fulfilling their functions.

I have asked officials in my Department shortly to meet officials from the NRA and the water companies to discuss contingency arrangements for the areas most likely to be affected should the worst occur. What form the arrangements will take is as yet difficult to predict. It depends upon a number of factors, not least rainfall. However, I should like to mention some action that has already been taken.

While investment in the water industry declined by 27 per cent. in the last half of the 1970s, it rose by 51 per cent. in the 1980s under Conservative government and the progress made helped to produce an additional 10 gallons of water for every man, woman and child each day. That momentum is accelerating under the privatised regime.

For example, a major reservoir at Roadford in Devon was put into use in 1990. Another at Carsington, near Derby, will yield 49 million gallons per day when completed in 1993. London's water supply into the 21st century will be secured by the construction of the London water ring main, due to be completed by the mid-1990s.

A number of development options for water resources are being explored by water companies to meet local shortfalls and deal with prospective additional regional demands. These include sinking boreholes, the construction of local pipeline transfer schemes and the building of major reservoirs. The NRA has commissioned a study, to be undertaken by Sir William Halcrow and Partners, on the options for a national water resources development plan.

However, a balanced strategy must not lose sight of the importance of conservation. In the short term, and particularly in those areas worst affected by drought, water companies and the NRA have given increasing publicity to the need to use water wisely. The casual user who leaves his or her sprinkler running for hours should be made aware that this can use in one hour at least as much water as an average family uses in one day, without necessarily benefiting his garden.

In the long term, measures such as sophisticated leakage control policies are being pursued by water companies to minimise losses through leaking mains. The Office of Water Services expects suppliers to adopt the most cost-effective control measures so as to lead to the most favourable charges to customers. The director general has made it clear that he will take appropriate action to secure improvements. The NRA would wish to be satisfied that water losses have been minimised before lending support to proposals for the development of new resources.

In times of water shortages, it is important to strike a balance between competing users and the environment. The NRA has recently been liasing with those holding abstraction licences, such as the water companies and farmers in the south-east, where the shortage has been worst. In East Anglia, they are already working to the warning procedures and advice set out in a leaflet published last year.

There are various concepts of what actually constitutes East Anglia, but for the purposes of simplicity I will equate it with the area covered by Anglian Water, the largest water company in England in terms of area. That area is also the flattest and driest. It extends from the southern part of Humberside in the north to the Thames estuary in the south, and covers also most of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.

The company area, as I have said, had the lowest rainfall in the country, even in normal times. Over the last six months it has received only 67 per cent. of its average rainfall. It is particularly vulnerable in such times as over half its water supply is from groundwater sources. These are replenished mainly during the winter months, due to high evaporation in the summer. The current comparatively dry winter is therefore a serious blow to the avoidance of a shortage next summer, when demand will rise with the needs of agriculture and tourism. Groundwater levels are currently very low. Surface reservoir levels vary at present but are generally rather more than half full.

Anglian Water continually updates its contingency arrangements. It has reduced abstractions from depleted aquifers, even where that has entailed moving to sources with higher costs for treatment or pumping. Publicity campaigns using television, newspapers and leaflets have exhorted consumers to save water. Over the last two years, the company has spent nearly £800,000 on high-technology leak detection equipment. Over the same period, it has drilled or re-equipped many boreholes, and improved a number of water treatment works and pumping stations. Further schemes are being accelerated.

I should, perhaps, add that, although three statutory water companies within the area—Three Valleys, Cambridge and Essex—currently have hosepipe bans in force, they, and Anglian Water, felt that they are able to withstand last year's condititions without applying for a drought order.

Lastly, let me return to the question of spray irrigation. The Anglian region is the most intensively farmed and spray-irrigated area in the United Kingdom. Following over-use in 1990, MAFF and the NRA issued a leaflet entitled "Good Irrigation Practice". The leaflet describes simple precautions to avoid wasting water, and gives details of three alerts. An "amber alert" issued by the NRA warns farmers, during prolonged dry weather following periods of low rainfall, that supplies in individual catchment areas are low. A "red alert" follows at least a fortnight later, and imposes a 50 per cent. cut in the annual licensed volume of water on any single abstraction licence. The final stage—during a prolonged drought, when supplies for irrigation fall to environmentally dangerous levels—is the imposition of an indefinite ban on all spray irrigation. The alerts are issued by catchment, and are not wide-area or blanket restrictions.

The situation in the Anglian region is becoming critical and its groundwater sources could suffer from further depletion unless the next six to eight weeks are very wet. We are doing what is necessary to ensure that contingency planning is high on the agenda of all those concerned, so that, if the rain does not materialise, those responsible for water resources management, and consumers among the public and industry, can play their part in minimising the effects.

I welcomed the opportunity of reporting on those issues, afforded to me by my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at seventeen minutes past Eleven o'clock.

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