Source · Select Committees · Built Environment Committee
Recommendation 42
42
For decades, successive governments, water companies and regulators have failed to work together to anticipate...
Conclusion
For decades, successive governments, water companies and regulators have failed to work together to anticipate effectively future demand for water. 65 Meanwhile, the water industry has not factored major future demands (such as new towns or data centres) into its planning. 66 An example of this failure in resource planning is that the UK has not built a new reservoir for over 30 years. As they take around 10–15 years to build, long-term and sustainable increases in water storage capacity appear to be an unacceptably distant prospect. 67 New towns should not be competing with other developments (such as data centres or industry) for connection to the water supply. Rather, the Government and the water industry should be working closely together to ensure that infrastructure is in place to provide a resilient and abundant supply of water for the long-term. Challenges for energy