§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he anticipates any increase in the demand for laboratory services by district councils, to analyse samples of water taken to comply with European Community directive 80/778/EEC;
(2) how many private water suppliers there are in each district council area;
(3) what research has been done by his Department into the costs to district councils of implementing European Community directive 80/778/EEC; and if he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe distribution of private water supplies among districts is very uneven—the numbers vary from a single supply to more than 2,000—and the demand for laboratory services and the costs of implementing directive 80/778/EEC are likely to vary accordingly.
My Department asked district councils in December 1987 to provide details of the number of private supplies in their areas, classified according to the size of supply. Most authorities have now given this information, but some returns are still awaited, and I cannot yet give total figures for these supplies.
§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how long he estimates it will take to complete a thorough programme of sampling of the water supplies in Scotland.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonSampling of public and private water supplies to maintain up-to-date information on their quality is of its nature a continuing process.