Water reform ‘threatens food security’

Government plans to restrict farmers’ access to water threaten to damage UK food production, industry leaders have warned.

Proposals to reform the water abstraction licencing system represent the biggest shake-up in irrigation rules for more than 50 years. But both the NFU and the CLA voiced concern in response to a government consultation that ended last Friday (28 March).

The government wants to replace the existing system of licences with new abstraction permissions. Seasonal conditions and separate licences for winter or summer abstraction would disappear. Instead, permissions would contain conditions linking access to water availability.

This would allow higher flows to be abstracted all year – not just in winter. But it would also restrict abstraction during very low river flows. In response, CLA president Henry Robinson said agriculture should be excluded from proposals to reduce access to water.

“The government’s proposals must guarantee food businesses have secure access to water if essential food security is to be maintained. A system that restricts the ability to abstract water during very low river flows could harm crops, fruit and vegetables and hinder food production.”
Henry Robinson, CLA president

“The government’s proposals must guarantee food businesses have secure access to water if essential food security is to be maintained. A system that restricts the ability to abstract water during very low river flows could harm crops, fruit and vegetables and hinder food production,” he added.

Agriculture represented less than 1% of the total licensed volumes of water, said Mr Robinson. Proposals to automatically revoke unused abstraction licenses would also cause problems for the agricultural industry, he added.

NFU water specialist Paul Hammett welcomed proposals that water should be increasingly managed on a catchment-by-catchment basis. There were advantages to moving away from national “broad-brush” rules to a governance system that tackles local problems, he said.

But such major changes also had potential pitfalls, he added. “Revocation of all irrigation licences to be replaced by permissions could be a real bonus if the new regulations are simple, low-cost and fair to all users – but the transition could also become an administrative nightmare.”

The government is expected to respond to the comments later this year.

The new system would allow higher flows to be abstracted all year, but would restrict abstraction during very low river flows.