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Flood and Water Management Bill

My Lords, I did not prepare any notes for this amendment, because I was somewhat puzzled about what the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, was proposing. I thought I would listen to him in the hope of having further insight. I am afraid that I am no wiser now than I was when I first came across the amendment. Water that is not in contact with the ground is something I think of as rain, and I cannot think of any other. I might be mistaken; obviously I stand to be corrected. As I see it, groundwater is much more familiar to people I know as sockwater, and the water that lies below the surface of the ground is a permanent feature of soils. It may be at a depth of several inches or many feet. It is usually a permanent feature of most soils. I understood that that is what this was referring to, but I would like the Minister to clarify the Government’s position. Indeed, the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, might like to have another go at explaining what he was trying to persuade us of.