ABSTRACT
Water resources are increasingly becoming an issue both globally19 and in the UK.20 To abstract water, a licence is required from the Environment Agency (EA).21 The EA is under a duty to conserve, redistribute or otherwise augment water resources and secure their proper use – subject to the qualification that it is not to be construed as relieving a water undertaker of the obligation to develop water resources for the purposes of performing a duty of the undertaker with respect to the water supply.22 Minimal acceptable flows for inland waters may be set.
