§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has made any assessment of the potential costs to water authorities of being obliged to adopt private sewers connected to a public main in cases where the private sewers have proved to be defective, and no liability can be exercised upon the original construction.
§ Mr. MoynihanNo precise estimate of these costs would be practicable, but the results of a sample survey of private sewers in one water authority area suggest that if water authorities were required to adopt all private sewers, they would incur annual renewal costs, excluding normal maintenance, in the region of £75 million.