Farmers: Water Abstraction
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she will conduct a review of water abstraction licensing for farmers to ensure that any regime better captures winter flows and periods of high rainfall.
Answered by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government encourages the use of reservoirs to store high winter flows.
To enable farmers to make better use of available water during wetter periods, Defra is taking steps towards a more dynamic abstraction licensing system and encouraging the use of reservoirs to store high winter flows.
The Environment Agency has committed to review its approach to abstraction at high flows to support the filling of on-farm reservoirs during wetter periods. This will help farmers store water for use during dry weather while maintaining environmental protection.
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