§ Mr. BaldryTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will publish detailed proposals for controlling red list substances in relation to the aquatic environment, first announced last November and outlined to Environment Ministers at the second international conference on the North sea.
§ Mr. RidleyThe Government have today published a consultation paper setting out its detailed proposals for tightening controls over the input of the most dangerous substances to water—the so-called red list. The consultation paper explains the selection scheme developed by my Department to identify those substances which are thought to pose the greatest threat to our water environment and the system of controls through which it is proposed to minimise the amounts of these substances reaching our inland and coastal waters. The initial red list contained 26 substances selected on the basis of their toxicity, persistence and capacity for bio-accumulation.
Industrial processes discharging significant amounts of red list substances will be prescribed for control by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution and will have to satisfy the inspectorate that the process will be operated using best available technology not entailing excessive cost in order to minimise the amounts of these substances discharged. In addition, discharges will continue to have to satisfy environmental quality objectives which water authorities set for the receiving waters.
Where these substances reach water from indirect or diffuse sources, the Government will be asking water authorities to initiate more rigorous environmental monitoring, and will be seeking ways of applying existing controls over their marketing and use more effectively.
These proposals represent a further move in United Kingdom policy towards a more precautionary approach to the protection of the aquatic environment and will constitute a key element in our implementation of the measures agreed by Ministers at last November's second international conference on the North sea. Although these proposals relate primarily to the water environment, they are consistent with the wider policies for integrated pollution control, which are the subject of a separate consultation paper also being published today. The Government also see the proposals as having general implications for the development of European policy on the control of dangerous substances to water. The Government hope to start implementing these proposals on an interim basis during the second half of 1989.
The consultation paper is being sent to the CBI, the Chemical Industries Association, the Water Authorities 443W Association, representation of various trade organisations and other interested parties. Copies are available from the Vote Office and in the Library.