§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment why figures for the volume of raw human sewage allowed into British estuaries are not kept centrally; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. MoynihanThe information asked for is not held centrally, because to do so would serve no useful purpose.
The last surveys of discharges of foul sewage to estuaries and coastal waters were published in 1973, but they do not differentiate between the two types of receiving waters. Details of all discharges to rivers, estuaries and coastal waters are, however, available from water authorities' public registers. Since 1973 there have been major reductions in such discharges in most of the estuaries in the United Kingdom.