The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has criticised the Government for its lack of ambition on water efficiency targets and failure to make SuDS compulsory in all new builds.

The criticism comes in the EAC’s report Heatwaves: adapting to climate change  published today.

During their heatwave inquiry Paul Hickey, Head of Water Resources at the Environment Agency, told MPs on the Committee that public water supplies are forecast to reduce by between 4% and 7% across the UK due to climate change by 2045, with some water companies experiencing more than a 7% reduction to supplies. By the 2050s, the population in England is forecast to grow by over 10 million people, with a large part of the growth occurring in areas where water is already scarce.

Water efficiency should be embedded at the heart of planning policy

The report also flags up the urban heat island effect - the most demonstrable effect for water companies is the increased water consumption that comes with the prolonged higher temperatures. In some places, water consumption could increase significantly and this will only exacerbate the situation in water-stressed areas.

“This makes it all the more important to embed water efficiency at the heart of planning policy and to ensure a minimum standard of resilience for the public water supply”, the MPS say.

Ofwat must use its powers to ensure Govt sets target for water companies to halve leakage by 2050

Paul Hickey also told the EAC that households are more likely to undertake water efficiency measures if water companies are addressing their own leakage problems.

The Committee are supporting the National Infrastructure Commission’s recommendation that the Government set a target for water companies to halve their leakage by 2050. The Commission have found that, at present, 20% of the mains water supply is lost to leakage every day.

“We support this recommendation, and urge the regulator, Ofwat, to use its powers to ensure this occurs and that the water network is more resilient.”

Government has weakened its water efficiency ambitions

The Committee has also drawn attention to the fact the Government has weakened its water efficiency ambitions, referring to a leaked draft of the 25 Year Environment Plan which indicated that the Government originally intended to introduce tighter water efficiency standards into the building regulations.

The original version of the 25 Year Environment Plan proposed tightening the existing water efficiency requirement in Part G of the building regulations for buildings of 125 litres per person per day to 110 litres . However, the report says that in the final Plan this ambition was revised to:

“We will work with industry to determine appropriate targets for personal water consumption and the measures needed to achieve them.”

The report also points out that although it is expected that there will be less water available per person in the future, regardless of this the Government has weakened its water efficiency ambitions and has overlooked industry representations to make per capita consumption standards more efficient.

A water-saving culture needs to be embedded to ensure that people understand the strain heatwaves place on the water supply and to make more water is available during a heatwave. The Government should adopt 110 litres per person per day as the mandatory standard in Part G of the building regulations for all new buildings.

Sustainable Drainage Systems - SuDS - should be required in all new developments.

The report says that sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) can reduce the urban heat island effect, as well as providing a sustainable way to collect storm water to irrigate green infrastructure. SuDS provide multiple benefits of reducing the urban heat island effect through evapotranspiration, providing irrigation for green walls and roofs and retaining soil moisture. However, England is the only country in the UK that does not require SuDS for all new developments in its planning policy.

The draft revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) for England outlines that “major developments should incorporate sustainable drainage systems unless there is clear evidence that this would be inappropriate.”

The MPs referred to the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management’s report A Place for SuDS? which criticised the NPPF’s weak wording as a barrier to widespread uptake of SuDS.

The report says that in the 2013 National Adaptation Programme the Government promised to make SuDS in new developments a requirement by 2014, but the commitment was “quietly dropped”, commenting:

“This is disappointing especially as it is now over 10 years since the Pitt Review’s recommendation to make SuDS compulsory. “

Anglian Water told the Committee that SuDS should be a requirement in the NPPF, as this would make them a statutory requirement in all local plans. This would provide multiple benefits of reducing the urban heat island effect, providing irrigation for green infrastructure and retaining soil moisture. The report says:

“As the population in dense urban areas grows, the Government should recognise the benefits of an integrated water management system for reducing the urban heat island effect. There is no need for further review of the benefits of SuDS. Before publication of the revised National Policy Planning Framework it should be updated to require SuDS in all new developments.

“Guidance on how to build SuDS to an adoptable standard should also be produced. This would ensure that all local authorities, particularly those with dense urban areas, manage water more responsibly as heatwaves become more frequent.”

According to the EAC, Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP imnformed the inquiry that the Government intends to make proposals on sustainable urban drainage “a little later this year.”

Government should introduce an urban green infrastructure target

The report says that green spaces and infrastructure are known to reduce the urban heat island effect - however urban green space in England has declined to 56% in 2016 from 63% in 2001.

While some cities have looked at the issue – Glasgow has looked at increasing green cover by 20%, Bristol City Council are looking to increase their tree canopy from 15% to 30% by 2050 and the new London Plan proposes a policy called the urban greening factor – the report says the majority of local plans to do not contain any strategies to reduce the urban heat island effect. There is likewise “no explicit mention of the importance of shading streets and parks” in the National Planning Policy Framework.

The 25 Year Environment Plan which outlines the Government’s ambition to green the England’s towns and cities also comes in for criticism.

The Plan includes planting one million trees in towns and cities by 2022, drawing up a national framework of green infrastructure standards, supporting local authorities to assess their provision of green space against these standards and exploring how green infrastructure commitments can be built into national planning guidance and policy.

However, the MPs say there is no mention of the benefits of green spaces for reducing the urban heat island effect, and protecting the population of towns and cities during heatwaves. There are no national targets to increase urban green space back up to 2001 levels.

“The Government’s commitments to green towns and cities are not measurable or target driven and do not link green spaces to urban heat island reduction.”

The EAC is calling on the Government to introduce an urban green infrastructure target as part of the metrics for the 25 Year Environment Plan and in the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure towns and cities are adapted to more frequent heatwaves in the future. It should also aim to increase urban green space to 2001 levels, and higher if possible.

The importance of shaded spaces in urban areas should also be included in the Framework’s section on ‘promoting healthy and safe communities’, so that all local planning authorities have to demonstrate their provision of shaded spaces in the clearance process of their local plans.