HC Deb 25 February 1997 vol 291 cc155-6W
Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made on designating nitrate-sensitive areas required under the urban waste water treatment directive; and if he will make a statement. [17906]

Mr. Robert B. Jones

Following advice from the Environment Agency, we have identified particular stretches of the rivers Waveney, Blackwater and Great Ouse as sensitive areas on the basis of elevated nitrate levels under the terms of the urban waste treatment directive. The Environment Agency will set nitrogen reduction requirements in the discharge consents of eight sewage treatment works which discharge into the three sensitive areas. The requirements will come into effect by the end of 1998 in accordance with the directive. I have today placed in the Library of the House a map of the three sensitive areas and a list of the eight sewage treatment works, all of which are owned by Anglian Water Services. The map and the list will also be available for inspection at the Environment Agency's headquarters and its main regional offices.

Modelling work by the Environment Agency has indicated that the eight sewage treatment works contribute less than 5 per cent. of the observed elevated nitrate levels in the three rivers. Identification of these sensitive areas implements the part of the urban waste water treatment directive which seeks to control nitrate levels in surface waters intended for the abstraction of drinking water.

The nitrogen reduction measures to be implemented under this directive will contribute to our overall aim to reduce nitrate pollution at the abstraction points on these three rivers. They will complement measures already being taken to reduce nitrate pollution from agriculture and other diffuse sources.

The effect of this package of measures in the three rivers will be influenced by the crops grown, soil type, previous agricultural practices and by local weather conditions, particularly rainfall, in each of their catchments. The Environment Agency will continue to monitor nitrate concentrations in these rivers for the purpose of identifying whether additional measures are required.