§ Mrs. Ann TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice his Department has given water authorities on estimating the costs of complying with the legal standards for pesticides and nitrates laid down in EC directive 80/778/EEC.
§ Mr. HowardThe Department is asking water authorities to estimate the cost of complying with the pesticides and nitrate standards in EC directive 80/778/EEC, in the context of setting initial K (the initial price-increase limit) and identifying further items of expenditure (cost pass-through). For nitrate all cost of achieving compliance will be in initial K, while for pesticides some will be in K and some in cost pass-through.