§ Mr. John EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made in monitoring groundwater beneath waste tips; and if his Department will establish a database on the level of pesticide waste in each waste tip.
§ Mr. MacleanA research programme is under way to provide a review of the extent and type of groundwater contamination in England and Wales associated with the landfilling of controlled waste. The work will enable the Department to form conclusions about the significance of contamination in relation to drinking water quality standards, contaminant background levels in groundwater838W and contamination from non-landfill sources. It will result in guidelines for monitoring requirements and complements a broader programme of monitoring groundwater sources being sponsored by the National Rivers Authority.
The results of the study will be in the form of a database which is likely to contain waste input data by broad classification, but not details of pesticide or any other particular waste inputs to individual sites.
Another project currently being carried out is to compile a database of the composition of the liquids produced within landfills and to investigate the occurrence of compounds of environmental significance, including certain pesticides, within these liquids.