§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many prosecutions have been undertaken in the past year by the drinking water inspectorate in respect of alleged breaches by water companies of the legal standards for drinking water. [17190]
§ Mr. GummerThe standards for drinking water quality in England and Wales are set in the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 1989, as amended. These incorporate all the requirements of the European Community directive relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption (80/778/EEC) and some national standards. Many of the health-related standards are based on lifetime exposure and generally include wide safety margins.
Compliance by the water companies with the requirements of the regulations is monitored by the drinking water inspectorate, which carries out an annual technical audit of each company. As part of the technical audit process, the inspectorate examines each water company's water quality test results for each treatment works, service reservoir and water supply zone and checks them against the standards. Each failure to meet the standards is assessed by the inspectorate. If necessary, the inspectorate will initiate enforcement action against a company and the company will provide a legally binding undertaking to carry out remedial work as quickly as possible. The inspectorate has taken more than 2,000 enforcement actions against water companies since it was formed in 1990. There is an improvement programme in place, costing over £3 billion since 1989, and at a result drinking water quality is higher than ever before. In 1995, nearly 3.2 million tests on drinking water were carried out and 99.5 per cent. of them met the standards.
154WWater companies can be prosecuted under section 70 of the Water Industry Act 1991 for supplying water unfit for human consumption and under regulation 28 of the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 1989 for breaches of the regulations relating to the use of products, processes or substances in contact with drinking water. In both circumstances there is provision for a statutory defence of due diligence. Water unfit for human consumption is different from water marginally failing to meet the standards and relates to water that is unhealthy or unpalatable as a result of an incident.
Water companies are required to report to the drinking water inspectorate incidents which affect or threaten to affect adversely drinking water quality. All such incidents are investigated by the inspectorate. Most are found to be minor and there have been only a very few instances in which water unfit for human consumption may have been supplied and in most of those there were no grounds for prosecution.
In the past year, Thames Water Utilities Ltd. was prosecuted for supplying water unfit for human consumption to an area of south-west London. Previously, in 1995, Severn Trent Water Ltd. was prosecuted for supplying water unfit for human consumption and Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig was prosecuted for an offence under regulation 28 of the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 1989. A prosecution of South West Water Services Ltd. for allegedly supplying water unfit for human consumption is before the court at the moment.