HL Deb 07 February 1994 vol 551 cc117-8WA
Lord Swinfen

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What information they have about the regularity and standard of the technical audits of water companies carried out in other member states of the European Union to ensure they are complying with the regulatory requirements relating to drinking water quality; and

Whether there is evidence that the technical audits conducted by the Drinking Water Inspectorate to check the quality of drinking water supplied in England and Wales are more frequent and more rigorous than those carried out by the competent authorities in any other Member State of the European Union; and

Whether they will publish a comparison of the frequency and standard of inspections of drinking water quality carried out by the competent authorities in each member state of the European Union.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Arran)

The EC Drinking Water Directive (80/778/EEC) is imprecise about the arrangements to be adopted for monitoring the quality of drinking water in a member state. Information on how other member states meet their obligations in this regard is not available as data comparable to those for the United Kingdom are not generally published.