HC Deb 19 October 1989 vol 158 cc244-5W
Mr. Kirkwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list in theOfficial Report all those areas in the Borders region where the existing public supply of water does not conform to European Community standards, indicating in each case the cause of the breach of the EC regulation.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Public water supplies in Borders region comply with the terms of the EC drinking water directive, with the exception of five supplies which are the subject of applications for delays in terms of article 20. These are listed with the parameters where the standards are not met.

Borders region—Areas where water fails to meet EC parameter standards
Area Supply Parameter
Carlops Carlops Microbiological1
Parts of central Borders Wantonwalls Aluminium
Ettrickbridge Ettrickbridge Iron
Area Supply Parameter
Parts of East Berwickshire Rawburn Iron
Parts of central Borders Roberton Aluminium
1 Will comply this year.

Mr. Kirkwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to increase capital resources in Scotland to ensure that the quality of water in areas including the Borders conforms to European Community standards; and how long he estimates it will take to achieve these standards throughout the Borders region.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Resources have been increased already. The 1989–90 capital provision for water and sewerage services is £126 million, a 14 per cent. increase over the previous year's planned provision. Regional and islands councils have been asked to provide details of costed action programmes to achieve full compliance with the EC drinking water directive. These will be taken into account when setting next year's allocations.

In Borders region most supplies already meet EC standards. Only one small treatment works will not produce water complying within the next year and in two other supply areas improvements to iron mains will be phased over a few years. Planned expenditure for the next three years is concentrated on further improvement of water treatment works and distribution mains to ensure that the standards continue to be met in the future.