by Megan Darby
Pressure is mounting on government to speed up abstraction reform after peers warned that urgent action is needed to safeguard water quality and availability.
In a report on freshwater policy, the Lords EU environment sub-committee said the environment department’s (Defra’s) deadline to introduce a new abstraction regime by the mid to late 2020s was too distant.
Committee chair Lord Carter of Coles said: “The government cannot wait 15 years to reform the water abstraction regime when it is clear that over-abstraction is already doing ecological damage to more than one in ten of our rivers.”
He told ministers to “grasp the nettle” and allow water costs to rise where other measures fail to overcome water scarcity.
The committee’s message
echoed frustrations expressed by environmental groups and economists, notably Martin Cave, over the leisurely timetable for tackling unsustainable abstraction.
Shadow water minister Gavin Shuker said the absence of a Water Bill in Wednesday’s Queen’s Speech would create greater uncertainty and further delays. “The government has failed to seize the agenda and legislate for the long term sustainability of our water supplies,” he added.
Defra said: “We are aware that we need to tackle the legacy of damaging abstraction and will do so with the introduction of a draft Water Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny before the summer recess.”
No compensation if licences are revoked
Defra and the Welsh government are developing a framework to revoke abstraction licences with no compensation where necessary to protect the environment from “serious damage”.
A consultation on how to interpret “serious damage” closed on 3 May, and the new rules should be in force from mid-July. The Environment Agency pays compensation from a charge levied on all abstractors.
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 11 May 2012.
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