15. Mrs. Slaterasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will make a further statement on the problem of the foaming agent in detergents and its effect on sewage purification.
§ Mr. BevinsMy right hon. Friend has, as yet, no information beyond that published in April in the Second Progress Report of the Standing Technical Committee on Synthetic Detergents. He hopes, however, to be able to make a statement before the summer Recess on the progress of the trials being carried out by the Committee.
Mrs. SlaterI am very pleased to hear that we are likely to have a statement before the Recess. Can the Parliamentary Secretary say whether he has any knowledge of how far a new chemical has been developed which will dissolve the worst qualities of the foaming agent and make it less of a danger to sewerage authorities and to the people who use detergents? Has the Parliamentary Secretary or the Minister seen the picture in Reynolds News on Sunday of the effects of detergent foam being blown about in Castle-town?
§ Mr. BevinsI am afraid I have not time to read all these newspapers. I think it much more enlightening to read the Second Progress Report of the Committee which makes clear that a new detergent material has been discovered by the manufacturers and that it has been subjected to tests by the Water Pollution 224 Research Laboratory of the D.S.I.R. In the main those tests have been successful, and we are trying to ascertain whether such tests could be carried out at major sewerage works. We shall know more when we have the results of these inquiries.