§ Mr. Joplingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to persuade the North West Regional 318W Water Authority next year to arrange for Merseyside to be supplied with water from the Lake District rather than from Lake Vyrnwy; whether he will give an undertaking that a scheme of this sort would not be supplied on the basis of the current emergency arrangements which affect Ullswater and Lake Windermere; and whether he will also undertake that a scheme of this sort would not violate the arrangements agreed by previous Governments over the maximum abstraction from those two lakes.
§ Mr. Denis HowellThe diversion of water from Lake Vyrnwy to areas other than Merseyside was one of the schemes to deal with possible water shortages next year which I discussed recently with the water authorities concerned. The shortfall in supplies to Merseyside would be made up by increased abstraction from the Dee and by sharing water already available in the Manchester area. Emergency drawings from Ullswater and Lake Windermere, which are already authorised, should ensure that stocks of water in Lakeland reservoirs are sufficient to meet this added demand.