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Lord Lyell: My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Trefgarne for giving us the opportunity to discuss this incredibly important subject and my noble friend Lady Byford for opening our discussion with such a powerful speech. Your Lordships will be pleased to know that many of the points that came to my mind have already been made, especially in relation to supply, leakages, Ofwat and the various authorities that have responsibility either for watching what we do with water or for supplying it.
I was very pleased that my noble friend referred in the Motion to water supplies in the United Kingdom. I have one or two points to stress to him and your Lordships about that later. All my life, I have been involved in farming, but I also have clear memories. Although I was too young—in fact, I was not in this country—to remember the great floods of 1947, but I recall that in 1953 there were enormous floods. They were caused not so much by rain, but by wind storms, which affected us in Scotland and others throughout the United Kingdom. Your Lordships may well remember that there were 200—or was it even 300?—fatalities in north, east and south-east England. In my schooldays, in 1954, the Thames flooded right up to the steps of Eton College. That was not in the flood season, spring; it was in autumn—in November. That was before the days of the Thames Barrier. I have no idea why it happened; it might have been to do with drainage, but there was especially heavy rainfall during November.
I remember that, during my schooldays in Angus, the two years of 1955 and 1959 were incredibly dry. I have good reason to remember that because in that area, which I think is known to my noble friend Lord Astor and certainly to my noble friend Lord Glenarthur, there were springs that almost dried up, but they have come back. We have records going back for 250 years, but those years were the two driest that we have ever experienced. In east Scotland, 1975 and 1976 were two particularly dry years. Indeed, your Lordships may remember that the last time—as I recall—that we had standpipes in London and the south-east was in 1976. I am delighted that my noble friend Lady Shephard agrees, because Norfolk was even drier than parts of Angus.
I wonder what cures there are. The noble Lord, Lord St John of Bletso, made an enormously powerful speech about industry. I have not been involved in industry but, as an agriculturalist, I know and am becoming increasingly conscious of how much water particular crops require. Vegetables and livestock require much more. I wonder whether there is a cure.
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We have heard several powerful speeches about repairing the infrastructure. The nearest authority to us is Thames Water. We have heard what it is attempting to do, especially to repair 100 year-old water infrastructure beneath the streets of London.
We are also receiving increasingly helpful advice, using the happy word "efficiency", on saving water. Much of that is about turning off the tap while you brush your teeth, but it gives great pleasure to the younger children of the sons and daughters of your Lordships when they are told to bath only once a week or once a fortnight. They are dancing with joy about that. However, more constructive advice is available from water companies, Ofwat, and elsewhere. I am sure that we will get friendly advice from the Minister later.
However, there is appears to be confusion about building. My noble friend Lady Hanham mentioned this. First, there is the question of supplies. I see that my noble friend Lord Astor of Hever has just joined us. He may want to speak later. I recall that there have been exceedingly serious floods in his area twice, if not three times, in the past five years. That has ongoing implications for householders and people living and working in that area. They are finding it difficult and very costly to obtain flood insurance for their houses, properties and businesses. So there is something of an imbalance.
We have heard about supplies of water—not only domestic but to industry and agriculture. The noble Lord, Lord St John, pointed out the worldwide problem. The percentage of water that can be used for drinking in the United Kingdom is perhaps not too different. The water companies—indeed, the water industry—are also involved in many other aspects that add to the cost of finding, saving, preserving and looking after water; namely, the standards—that dreadful word—of purity. Your Lordships may remember the fierce, emotional and impassioned debates on putting fluoride into the water in the south-east of England. But I am very grateful for the efforts being made to upgrade the purity of water throughout England and Wales, let alone Scotland, and particularly in the Thames area.
I hope that the Minister will be able to give us guidance on several fronts. I warned your Lordships that I was delighted that my noble friend's debate referred to water in the United Kingdom, because between 1984 and 1989, I had purported responsibility in Northern Ireland for what was called drainage. But I was not responsible for the alteration of that name during my time there to "water course management". It did not make much difference; we still had particularly serious flooding problems. The advice that I got—I doubt the Minister will be able to correct me when he gets better advice—was, "Oh, this is quite safe. It happens only once in 50 years, or twice in 100 years". I began to ask questions after we had particularly serious floods on the flatlands of County Londonderry. I was particularly aware of, and learnt a great deal about, drainage for forestry and agriculture there but, through drainage, we have undone, or
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corrected, perhaps 50, 100 or 200 years of what our ancestors used to call flood plains. These, too, have their part to play in preserving water.
I wonder what can be done. No doubt the Minister and others will have quite a bit to say about water supplies and the grid. They will certainly have something to say about co-operation between the water companies. In the words of one trader, "Every little helps". Every single litre that can be saved is excellent. Perhaps, beyond my lifetime, a water grid might help. It might not help in the island of Ireland, but there is certainly quite enough water in Scotland—we like to use it—in the event of further extensions to the north. We know of the enormous success of the Kielder and another area—I think it is called Catcleugh—which I pass through three, four, five or even 10 times a year. It goes back to the 1930s and is part of the Kielder system. For each of the past three years, it has been adequately filled up. So there is water in the land mass of England. Perhaps the Minister will say that there will be a grid beyond the lifetimes of many of us, including those of the children who may not want to take baths at this moment.
I am delighted that my noble friend Lord Trefgarne has secured the debate today, because I suspect that tomorrow and over the weekend he may require considerable supplies of water of the mineral variety and perhaps others.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, it may assist the House if I explain that the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard of Northwold, was put on the wrong speaking list in error. She will now speak as a full speaker on this list.
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Baroness Shephard of Northwold: My Lords, I am extremely grateful to the Minister for that explanation. I am even more grateful, despite this inexplicable failure of communication between the Government Whips' Office and me, to be able to contribute to the debate. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Trefgarne on securing the debate, which is indeed timely and relevant, and my noble friend Lady Byford on so ably introducing it.
At least 12 million homes and businesses in the south-east will also agree that the debate is extremely timely, because they face a hose-pipe ban and other restrictions from 1 April; namely, the day after tomorrow. I understand that householders in Oxford have been told that after that date they will not be able to use even a bucket of water to clean their cars, let alone a hose-pipe, so they, too, will think that our House is debating something that is very relevant to them.
I come from East Anglia and, so far, we are not as badly affected by water use restrictions as are, for example, parts of Kent and Sussex, but we have some problems with water supply and abstraction in the south part of our region.
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In East Anglia, there is increasing concern that the plans of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for around half a million new homes for East Anglia by 2021 take scant regard of the implications for water supply. The view generally in East Anglia is that the Government preach concern for water conservation, on the one hand, but, on the other, announce plans for new settlements, apparently with no thought at all for water use.
This paradox was highlighted by the ODPM Select Committee in its report of April 2003, which revealed that water companies had not been involved in discussions on housing targets for the south-east, a matter touched on by my noble friend. The Committee commented:
"It is astounding that despite the clear need for an assessment of the environmental impacts of the proposals for the Growth Areas as a whole, nothing has been done to date by ODPM or DEFRA to address the issue".
I understand that last July—I was not present—the Minister undertook to ensure that the Government examined the merits of a national water grid. He may be able to update the House on the progress of his undertaking in his remarks later. I am sure that his conclusions and whatever he has to say will be examined very closely in East Anglia. This is because the East of England Development Agency and the regional assembly have taken the sensible, but unusual, step of suspending their support for the regional plan during its examination in public until the Government can confirm that they will provide funding for the necessary infrastructure to support the additional half a million homes proposed by the ODPM. That infrastructure obviously includes water supplies and sewerage provision. To date, no such confirmation has been forthcoming.
The Environment Agency, which has been closely involved in the drawing up of the plan—although not as a statutory consultee—has said that development of the region has to depend on the provision of new water resources. It gave this view in evidence to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on 28 February. That evidence is uncorrected as yet. I should point out, in the presence of the noble Earl, the chairman of the sub-committee, that the committee has, as yet, come to no conclusions.
The regional assembly and the Environment Agency agree that full and proper infrastructure studies should be carried out of public health and water needs before the development takes place. I hope the Minister will be able to explain to the House that such studies are underway. The chairman of the regional assembly on 28 February—again I point out that this is uncorrected evidence—said:
"We have some significant concerns about the undoubted increase in homes that we are being asked to build by the Government and the lack of infrastructure funding".
"It has not started to come, and we have some concerns that it may not happen in which case we shall . . . not feel able to support the increased housing".
There is a very strong perception that the sustainable communities plan was launched without much thought for the provision of infrastructure. I am sure that the Minister will say—and this will be the case—that it is the task of the regional assemblies to undertake the necessary consultation. But many will feel—particularly with an issue as sensitive and as totally essential as water—that some thought should have been given to its provision before such dramatic announcements were made.
The Institution of Civil Engineers shares this view. It produced a joint report with the DTI, Sustainable Water Management and Land Use Planning, published in February this year, and stated that if a sustainable water management strategy to support a planned development cannot be produced, the development should be reviewed. Where is the sustainable water management strategy for the half a million houses planned for the east of England? Since the sustainability of water in that region has to depend on inter-regional transfer, what will be the cost of that transfer, who will provide the money for such a plan and, indeed, how environmentally sensitive is such an energy-intensive transfer?
There has been mention of a water grid. Everyone would recognise the present imbalance of water supplies across the country, but no one should think that would not come at a huge cost—not just financially, but via energy use and thus environmentally, too.
My noble friend Lady Byford mentioned the importance of agriculture. It is another reason that people in East Anglia are concerned about the planning of water resources; water is vital to the region's agricultural economy. I know that the Minister understands that agriculture represents a higher percentage of that region's economy than for many other areas. Because of changes in the common agricultural policy and the Government's enthusiastic espousal of a new sugar regime—effectively phasing out sugar-beet production—farmers have increasingly turned to vegetable production and processing. That is an obvious and sensible market-oriented solution.
Clearly, it is not just financially and economically but environmentally desirable to produce carrots, onions and salads near to their markets rather than importing them from, say, Spain. I know that the Minister strongly encourages our farmers in these enterprises, but it is self-evident that producing those crops requires irrigation. Water use for that purpose is steadily rising, year by year. While that needs to be done with great sensitivity for the environment—and in close co-operation with the Environment Agency—there is a clear need to plan the way that water is used for those purposes.
The agriculture industry has put enormous amounts of time, energy and money into investing in reservoirs and equipment, but it is equally obvious that such investment and commitment to a market-oriented approach to agricultural production could be threatened if insufficient attention is paid to the long-term planning of water resources. So, what is the
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overall strategy and, rather importantly, can we rely on the estimates provided by water companies? The Environment Agency thinks not. In evidence produced for the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee last November, it said that it believed the water companies had underestimated the level of housing growth for which they are planning water resources by 20 per cent. That is before we start to think about the implications of commercial and industrial growth.
There is no shortage of ideas on the building requirements, water conservation, regulation, abstraction or recycling. Indeed, one interesting idea being revived from 30 years ago was described in the Eastern Daily Press of 27 March. That is for the establishment of a grid of reservoirs in the Wash, to draw from the rivers which flow into the Wash and feed into the sea. Perhaps the Minister can tell us a little about that scheme, if he knows anything about it.
The Government face a situation which their predecessors did not. The implications of climate change are clearer now than they were 10 years ago. The rising demand for new housing comes in part from an accelerated sociological change within the past 10 years. Yet they are the Government of this time. It is their responsibility to plan for the future with the appropriate partners and to cope with that unprecedented situation by making changes to planning processes and the like, if necessary. I look forward to reassurance from the Minister that the process is underway. It is his watch.
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