Who has responsibility for water resources in England and Wales?

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Who has responsibility for water resources in England and Wales?

The Environment Agency is the statutory body with a duty to manage water resources. The Environment Agency has produced national and regional water resource strategies which set out the pressures over the next 25 years. Water companies have a duty to maintain adequate supplies of water. They each have a 25-year water resource plan which complements the Agency's strategies and sets out a programme of measures to reconcile supply with anticipated demand.

The resource plans cover three areas:

maintaining and developing the security of water supplies;
keeping leakage to an economic level; and
promoting the efficient use of water among customers (demand management).

For more information about the management of water resources in England and Wales please refer to the Environment Agency's website.