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Water Supply: West Midlands

Asked by Sir Andrew MitchellConservativeDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled Answered 25 June 2026UIN 10092

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the level of the demand on water resources in the West Midlands; and what are the principal contributors to that demand.

Answered by Emma Hardy

The level of demand on water resources is currently very high in the West Midlands. South Staffs Water and Severn Trent Water, whose supply areas both include the West Midlands, are classed as seriously water-stressed in the Environment Agency’s 2021 water-stress classification. Factors such as public water supply, industry and agricultural water use all contribute to this pressure.

The Environment Agency also maintains individual Abstraction Licensing Strategies (which can be found here) that set out its approach for managing new and existing water abstraction in individual catchments.

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