§ Dr. GibsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he expects the Anglian region to meet the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Directive for primary and secondary sewage treatment. [109948]
§ Mr. MullinFollowing our decision in September 1998 to reverse the previous Government's policy of seeking to apply primary treatment only, for coastal discharges into areas of high natural dispersion, water companies are required to install secondary treatment at all major discharges as soon as practicable. Wherever possible they are expected to meet the initial deadlines set out in the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. The majority of large works in Anglian region already have secondary treatment and we expect these to be compliant at or before the end of December 2000. Seven coastal discharges, into areas previously designated as areas of high natural644W dispersion, will have secondary treatment installed at or before December 2001. Some of these works already have primary treatment. In other cases, primary treatment will be installed as part of the total scheme to deliver treatment to secondary level.
Secondary treatment for smaller works will be delivered as part of the investment programme for Anglian water provided for in the recent determination by OFWAT of price limits for the period 2000 to 2005. These schemes are scheduled to be delivered by the end of March 2005, within the timescale required by the Directive.
The Environment Agency has agreed completion dates for each of these schemes with Anglian water. We expect the Agency to make prompt use of its enforcement powers, if the dates are not met.