Water Supply: Licensing

Miss McIntosh
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to exempt contractors from having to apply for an abstraction licence to pump water; and why he discontinued the earlier exemption for contractors from having to apply for such an abstraction licence.

Mr. Woolas
There are no plans to exempt contractors from having to apply for an abstraction licence where they are pumping more than 20 cubic metres per day. Abstractions of less than 20 cubic metres per day are exempt from abstraction licensing.

The exemption from abstraction control, stated in the Water Resources Act 1991, of a number of activities which may have environmental impacts, such as long-term dewatering for quarrying and lack of provision for temporary abstraction licences, were addressed in the provisions of the Water Act 2003. These provisions will be commenced in 2008.

Abstractions to deal with emergencies to protect life, or property or the environment, such as removal of flood water, will remain exempt from licence control.

The Water Act 2003 makes provision for temporary abstraction licences and a faster process for obtaining such licences from the Environment Agency. Temporary abstraction licences are applicable to projects where water needs to be pumped for less than 28 days but may have potential environmental impacts.