§ Sir R. Russellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps are being taken in conjunction with the water boards, river authorities and the National Environmental Research Council to institute research into new methods of detecting inorganic pollutants in the sub-part per million range; and how soon it will be possible for these methods to be used in the continuous monitoring of water resources.
§ Mr. Michael HeseltineSuch research is already being carried out by the Water Research Association with the help of a Government grant, and by the Institute of Hydrology and by Universities supported by the Natural Environment Research Council. I cannot yet say how soon it will be practicable to apply the results in continuous automatic monitoring.