81. Mrs. Slaterasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he is now in a position to make a further statement on the progress of the trials being carried out by the Standing Technical Committee on Synthetic Detergents with a new detergent material.
§ Mr. H. BrookeFor some months now, as an experiment and with the ready co-operation of the manufacturers concerned, the packeted synthetic detergents marketed in the Luton area have been based on the alternative surface active material mentioned by the committee in their second report. The effect on the detergent content of the effluent from the local sewage works has been systematically observed. It is still not possible to say definitely that the new material solves the problem, but the tests so far show that a higher proportion of detergent is being removed during treatment and that there has been a marked reduction in the content of surface active material in the River Lee several miles below the works. The results to date therefore are encouraging; the trials are continuing.