Clause 8 - Rights to abstract small quantities
Water Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
Mr Simon Thomas (Ceredigion, Plaid Cymru)
Let me say how delighted I am to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Amess. I am sorry
that I missed this morning's sitting; we were trying to sort out the leadership of Plaid Cymru overnight, although it will take a lot longer than that.
I support the thrust of the amendment, which relates to an important matter that was mentioned on Second Reading. It is right that we have the opportunity to consider it in Committee. I hope that the Minister will be able to reassure us about how it might work.
I shall outline my concerns. There are two types of bottled water, that which is bottled at source, such as Ty Nant, in the famous blue bottle, which comes from my constituency, and generic bottled water, which may be called Brecon beacons bottled water or whatever, and can come from all over the place, not from one aquifer. It is not of the same importance as water bottled at source. As the hon. Member for Leominster said, the fountain, stream or aquifer cannot be moved, therefore although Ty Nant is no longer owned by a local family it still employs about 30 people, which is important in the area.
I accept the point made by the hon. Member for Lewes that from an environmental point of view it is better to drink water from the tap, which I do except when I am in London, where I would not touch it with a bargepole. As I am used to the clean springs of west Wales, hon. Members would not expect me to defile my body with London water.
It is important to protect the industry and ensure that it can plan for its future. The Bill will introduce a licensing regime; some producers are concerned that it will limit the scope for investment when they discuss matters with banks and so on, because they will not have the guarantee of a long-term licensing system. On the whole, environmental considerations must outweigh other considerations. Water is such a precious resource, we cannot give licences willy-nilly and say, ''It is available for as long as you want. Invest on that basis.'' We must be able to say, ''Now the aquifer is exhausted we must protect the resources.''
It must be the case, too, that a company that has a licence for only 12 years, for example, should be able to protect its investment. Bore holes, perhaps drilled by people who are trying to exploit the same water, should not undermine the company's investment and its long-term sustainable development. Much of our bottled water comes from rural areas, and depends on the source and purity of the water being maintained. It is easy for farmers to drill a small bore hole, particularly for summer use, and it is right that they should not be covered by the measure. Like the hon. Member for Leominster, I welcome the Government's approach, but it is also right to give the Environment Agency some powers of scrutiny so that it can be alerted to any problems. If a water resource in an area from which there is a lot of extraction is also being exhausted by several small unlicensed bore holes, the agency must have the ability to step in and say, ''Hang on. Let's consider the whole resource and its conservation. Let's accept that we have licensed one extraction and protect that, and try to deal with the rest.'' I do not really care how we do that. It is simply important that we get it right in the Bill, and the
amendment provides a useful opportunity to debate that and for the Minister to respond.