§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the projects sponsored by his Department in the field of industrial effluent treatment, giving details of the planned expenditure. location, and progress of each project.
§ Mr. Denis HowellThe Department does not sponsor research into the treatment of industrial effluents as such. The advanced waste water treatment project which the Department is sponsoring will, however, enable the treatment of sewage containing industrial effluent to be studied at two experimental plants. At Coleshill, near Birmingham, the investigation programme will commence shortly. Construction continues on further stages of treatment designed in part to receive industrial wastes. In the plant at Davyhulme, near Manchester, provision has been made for operating on sewage with a high trade waste content, including effluent from a petrochemical complex. £337,000 was spent on the project in 1973–74. The estimated expenditure in 1974–75 is £500,000 and a similar amount is expected to be spent next year. The investigations will go on for several years.