§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, further to his answer of 15 April,Official Report, column 118, what are the arrangements for specific pollution incidents or other significant water quality failures.
Lord James Douglas HamiltonThe Water Supply (Water Quality) (Scotland) Regulations 1990 require a water authority to notify appropriate district or islands councils and health boards of any event affecting drinking water quality which may give rise to a significant risk to public health. The "Guidance on Safeguarding the Quality of Public Water Supplies in Scotland", issued in April 1990, sets out in detail the actions that the water authority should take. These include notifying the Scottish Office Environment Department of any significant water quality failure. A procedure has been agreed whereby the water authority reports initial details of any such incident as soon as possible after its occurrence. The information is updated as the event progresses, until normal water quality is restored.
§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the reported cases of water pollution in Scotland in each year since 1975.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe full range of information is not available centrally. River purification boards, however, maintain records of water pollution incidents and publish details of these in their annual reports.