§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he has taken to assure himself that the chlorine levels present in drinking water are sufficient to prevent infection in consumers from oocysts of Cryptosporidium.
§ Mr. BaldryIn July 1990, the group of experts on cryptosporidium in water supplies, chaired by Sir John Badenoch, reported that water treatment processes in current use were not designed to deal specifically with the problem of cryptosporidial oocysts which are also unaffected by chlorine in the concentrations that can be used. Although treatment processes cannot be relied upon to prevent all oocysts from entering mains water, they are quite effective in dealing with low numbers of the parasite.
The Government accepted all the recommendations of the expert group designed to minimise infection. They also initiated the research programme proposed by the group.
Copies of the report were placed in the House Library at the time of publication.
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§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he intends to require British Coal to obtain consent to discharge ferric iron from abandoned coal mines to surface waters.
§ Mr. BaldryThe National Rivers Authority has been reviewing the extent of problems from abandoned mine workings in England and Wales, and we are considering how best they might be tackled.