The Water Minister Emma Hardy has warned that the UK is facing “water rationing” unless new reservoirs are built.
Over the next ten years households and businesses could face “water rationing like we have in the Mediterranean” if Prime Minister fails to have new reservoirs built.
The government has announced they will have new reservoirs built as it is “nationally significant,” the Environment Secretary Steve Reed said.
“We have a problem in our country where we’re not going to have all of the drinking water that we need by the mid-2030s because we simply haven’t built the reservoirs required,” Hardy told GB News.
She added: “That’s because the last government failed to get the infrastructure and the planning process was just way too complicated and bureaucratic.
“So what we’re doing is we’re taking control of building the reservoirs from the local planning authorities, putting that power into the hands of the Secretary of State so he can power through and deliver these, because if we don’t, by the 2030s, we’re going to be looking at water rationing like we have in the Mediterranean and that’s unacceptable.”
The Environment Agency has revealed that the Northwest and Northeast had their driest start to the year since 1929.
Speaking to Times Radio Hardy said that the new reservoirs could “unlock tens of thousands of new homes and we can make sure that everybody has the drinking water that they desperately need”.
She said: “There are other things that we need to do to make sure that we have the drinking water that we need, and one of the other actions that we’re taking is the £104 billion of record investment that’s going into the water sector.
“This will help to reduce leaks from pipes by up to 17%, so that’s another really important action that’s needed just to make sure that everybody has the water that they need, because it’s not just about building homes as well.
“We need water for growth – there are projects up and down the country where businesses are crying out for extra water that they need to make sure that they can get on with growing our economy, so this is a really important announcement and it’s a beautiful win for nature as well.”
Hardy was asked if the new reservoirs will have an impact on water bills, she said there will be “private investment” to the tune of £104 billion.
She added, “I can completely understand why people are furious and angry about that, because it’s like with any issue that you find – if you fix a problem when you first notice it, it doesn’t cost you as much as if you leave it to get worse and worse and then you try and fix it, and that’s what we’ve had under the Conservatives, they left the problems to get worse and worse.”
