Water Supplies (Hansard, 20 February 1990)

§ Mr. Andrew Welsh
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland by what date he expects drinking water in Scotland to meet the standards laid down in the water regulations.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 19 February 1990]: Programmes for meeting the standards set in the regulations are currently being prepared by the water authorities and will be submitted for approval by the Secretary of State shortly. Target dates by which individual supply zones will be expected to comply with the various standards have yet to be agreed.

§ Mr. Andrew Welsh
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will be applying to the European Economic Community for additional article 9 derogations for Scottish water supplies which currently fail to meet the aluminium standard of 200 ug/1 but are not the subject of a permitted delay.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 19 February 1990]: Derogations under article 9 are granted by member states and require to be notified to the European Commission only if they relate to water supplies of more than 1,000 cu m per day or serving over 5,000 people. A small number of additional derogations for naturally occurring aluminium may have to be notified.

§ Mr. Andrew Welsh
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the Scottish water supplies which currently fail to meet the aluminium standard of 200 ug/1.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 19 February 1990]: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer that I gave to him on 15 November 1989 at columns 363–65 to a similar question.

§ Mr. Andrew Welsh
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the supplies by name which have been notified to him by the regional water departments for authorised relaxation of the water regulation standard on aluminium; and whether in each case he proposes to give consent.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 19 February 1990]: Water authorities are preparing details of supply zones for which application will be made for authorisation to relax standards set in the regulations. No formal applications have yet been received by the Secretary of State. Authorisations to relax the aluminium standard will be considered only if the aluminium occurs naturally in the source water.
736W

§ Mr. Andrew Welsh
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it his policy to offer the Scottish water authorities a green dowry similar to that offered to the English and Welsh authorities.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 19 February 1990]: The green dowry for English and Welsh water authorities was part of a financial restructuring necessary prior to privatisation; there are no plans for the privatisation of water services in Scotland.

§ Mr. Andrew Welsh
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on what grounds article 9 derogations for water standards are given; and how these criteria were applied in the case of each derogation for aluminium standards in Scotland.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 19 February 1990]: Derogations in respect of aluminium were given, on application by water authorities, as permitted by article 9.1(a) of the drinking water directive (80/778/EEC) for situations arising from the nature and structure of the ground, but not constituting a public health hazard. Applications were required to state average and maximum concentrations expected and derogation was conditional on averages not exceeding the value stated.

§ Mr. Andrew Welsh
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what budget he has allocated for a phased programme of investment in Scottish water to minimise delays due to the shortage of suitably qualified contractors;
(2) what funds he proposes to make available to assist in bringing Scotland's drinking water into line with the current European and United Kingdom standards.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 19 February 1990]: The programming of investment is a matter for the water authorities who have adequate flexibility to phase their capital expenditure to suit varying circumstances. The Government have made increased capital expenditure allocations to authorities for their water and sewerage programmes. These were announced on 15 February 1990. For 1990–91, the allocations have been set at £137.5 million rising provisionally to £159.6 million and £182.0 million in 1991–92 and 1992–93 respectively. The need to comply with EC and United Kingdom standards for drinking water quality, and the ability to undertake works, were factors taken into account in setting the increased capital allocations.

§ Mr. Andrew Welsh
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he anticipates that the supplies in Scotland which have delays for aluminium due to expire in 1990 will meet the 200 ug/1 quality standard in the current year.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 19 February 1990]: Meeting the standard for aluminium is largely dependent on the water authorities concerned completing the required improvement works by the due date. I have no reason to believe that this will not be achieved.