§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give details of all outstanding complaints against the United Kingdom Government by the Commission of the European Community under directions relating to the quality of drinking water and bathing water in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MoynihanI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mr. Griffiths) on 20 July, in column 104, concerning bathing waters. We have received representations from the Commission concerning one aspect of drinking water in one supply area, and will be responding shortly.
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§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many of the regional water authorities are conducting biological analysis or designated bathing beaches to detect the presence of human enteric viruses in line with the provisions of the European Community bathing water directive.
§ Mr. MoynihanDuring 1986, the last year for which results are available, four water authorities measured enteroviruses in bathing waters.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he proposes, in legislation for water privatisation, to ensure that the National Rivers Authority should have responsibility for the quality of public drinking water supplies in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MoynihanNo. It will be for the privatised water authorities, and the existing private sector statutory water companies, to maintain the quality of public water supplies in accordance with EC and other statutory requirements. It will remain the role of local authorities to ensure that water supplies are sufficient, and wholesome. The Secretary of State will continue to have responsibility for checking compliance with EC requirement.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his latest estimate of the cost of household water metering throughout the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MoynihanThe Watts committee, which reported in August 1985 — Joint Study of Water Metering: Report of the Steering Group — concluded that the average annualised cost of metering per customer including meter provision, installation, and maintenance and additional meter reading and billing costs, would be of the order of £4.75 per year; that for the average consumer the economic benefits of 'traditional' metering would be of the same order of magnitude as the costs; and that recent developments, including electronic notebooks and doorstep billing, could remove some of the costs and problems of reading 'traditional' meters. They recommended controlled comprehensive experiments with domestic metering which, amongst other things, would test present cost assumptions.
The Public Utility Transfers and Water Charges Bill contains provisions which would enable water undertakers to carry out metering trials, and proposals for a co-ordinated programme of trials are being formulated by the water industry.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the results of surveys of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in public drinking water supplies in the 10 regional water authority areas; and if he will comment on the public health significance of those surveys.
§ Mr. MoynihanI will write to the hon. Member.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the current levels of bromate in public water supplies in each of the 10 regional water authority areas; and what is his estimate of the total quantity of organo-bromine biodes being biodegraded during sewage treatment to inorganic bromide, discharged to rivers, abstracted for drinking water and oxidised to bromate during disinfection at water treatment works.
§ Mr. MoynihanI will write to the hon. Member.