§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list the Acts of Parliament which are relevant to the existing system of statutory control of quality of water in streams and rivers and the key Sections, Schedules, Statutory Instruments or regulations that 61W effectively determine the measurable standards now required by law;
(2) if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table or schedule setting out the measurable standards now required by law in respect of quality of water in streams and rivers and for each standard state the equivalent standard required by any regulation of the European Economic Community, or by each of its six member States.
§ Mr. Graham PageThe Principal Acts relating to the control of water quality in rivers and streams are:—
The Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act, 1951.
The Clean Rivers (Estuaries and Tidal Waters) Act, 1960.
The Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act, 1961.
There are no statutory standards for the quality of river water in this country, but standards for effluents are in effect set by the conditions which river authorities may attach to consent under those Acts for their discharge to rivers. Such conditions are intended to be determined individually with due regard to such matters as the dilution provided by the river at the point of discharge and the quality and subsequent uses of its waters.