The mosquito,the elephant and the House of Lords Water Management Inquiry

Abstract

In 2005, sensing that there was growing public interest and concern about water, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee decided to hold an Inquiry into Water Management in England and Wales. The nature of such inquiries is that they seek to elicit evidence of the latest thinking, experience and opinion from a wide cross-section of persons and sources, and to weigh such evidence in an impartial manner in order to make recommendations to Government with regard to policies and actions. In this paper we examine three of the issues that provide communication spaces for the sense-making of policy, science and technological thinking around the subject of water management: levels of affordability, debt and disconnections; the appropriateness or otherwise of defined ‘economic’ or ‘sustainable’ levels of leakage; and burgeoning housing development and associated projections of water demand. Although in policy matters the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has limited formal powers, it can exercise a significant nuisance factor on Government, much like a mosquito on an elephant.