§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment when the report on the recent pollution incident affecting water supplies to Merseyside and Deeside will be published; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GowThe report prepared by the North West water authority and the Welsh water authority was published today. It recommends a number of ways in which current systems for detecting and handling pollution incidents on the River Dee could be improved. I welcome the remedial measures already taken by the undertakings concerned and the fuller local investigation on which they propose now to embark. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I do not propose to set up our own inquiry, but our Departments will be closely involved in the studies of the wider implications of this incident which we are asking the water authorities and the water companies to carry out.