UK to have plenty of safe water after Brexit: Minister Michael Gove

Britain's environment minister reassured the country on Wednesday that it would have plenty of safe drinking water should it crash out of the European Union without a deal.

The unusual message from Michael Gove came in response to a media report of cabinet ministers were briefed about various doomsday scenarios.

One of them reportedly included the possibility of the UK running out of the European chemicals it imports through ports to purify water supplies.

The Mail on Sunday said Gove only came out in support of Prime Minister Theresa May's divorce arrangements with the EU after being told that no deal would see Britons "immediately face a shortage of drinking water and (an) inability to flush toilets".

Responding to the report, Gove told a parliamentary committee hearing that the chemicals in question were primarily shipped through the less-congested port of Immingham.

Economists think the country's biggest port in Dover could grind to a halt if London and Brussels fail to agree on new customs and regulations procedures.

"It is the case that the water industry is reliant on chemicals that are imported from the EU in order to ensure that we have pure and safe drinking water," Gove said.

"Prudently, we have talked to the water companies, and I have been talking to the regulator, to make sure that those chemicals can be sourced." Gove explained that the government was taking "appropriate steps to mitigate".

"So, it should be the case that our water will be -- in fact, it will be the case that our water will be completely safe to drink."

Most Britons have grown accustomed to hearing frightening stories about life after the day Britain ends its 46-year membership in the EU on March 29.

The summer saw newspapers report about the cabinet drafting plans to stockpile non-perishable food supplies.

Firm Brexit backers dismiss the stories as underhand tactics design to get politicians to support a divorce deal that maintains close future EU-UK ties.

(With inputs from agencies.)