§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information his Department holds that enables him to assess the extent to which potable water in England complies with the European Community directive relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption (80/77/EEC).
§ Mr. Howard[holding answer 25 April 1989]: The Department has information about supplies which regularly do not meet one or other of the standards in the directive and about programmes to achieve compliance. Information concerning supplies where there is occasional non-compliance is currently being submitted by water undertakers to the Department in the context of further improvement programmes.
§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the cost at current prices to each water authority in England of complying with the European Community directive relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption (80/77/EEC).
§ Mr. Howard[holding answer 25 April 1989]: Water undertakers have submitted to the Department projections of the costs involved in complying with the EC drinking water directive. We are reviewing these and discussing them with individual water undertakers. Until we have examined all the programmes it is not possible to estimate the costs. However, the programme will be included in prospectuses to be published later this year.