§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the steps taken by Thames Water to prevent leaks, with particular reference to the timescale for changing all lead pipes in street areas(a) in Leyton and Wanstead and (b) elsewhere in London, including those from mains to house stop-cocks; if he will indicate for each London constituency the amount of such piping which is deemed to need changing; how much Thames Water (i) has spent on this in each of the last five years and (ii) it is committed to spend in the next five years; and if he will break down (i) and (ii) by (1) Leyton and Wanstead and (2) other London constituencies; what incentives Thames Water provides to home owners to change old pipes; and if he will make a statement. [111273]
§ Mr. MullinThe new Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC) tightens the standard for lead in drinking water from its current 50µg/1 to 25µg/1 by 25 December 2003 and to 10µg/1 by 25 December 2013. Where action is necessary to meet these standards, water companies will first treat water to reduce its ability to dissolve lead from pipes, or will optimise that treatment where it is already in place. Replacement of company lead pipes will be needed where water treatment fails to achieve the standards—mainly in soft-water areas. This will become fully apparent only after optimised treatment has been in place for some months. Water companies have no6W responsibilities for the pipework within the property boundary, which will remain the responsibility of property owners.
Thames Water has met targets for leakage reduction for 1997–98 and 1998–99, reducing leakage over that period by 29 per cent. Under targets set by the Director General of Water Services, this should be reduced by a further 24 per cent. by March 2001.
Information about spending on leakage and lead pipe replacement is not publicly available, and would need to be requested from Thames Water. However, in Ofwat's publication, "1998–1999 Financial Performance and Expenditure of the water companies in England and Wales", Table 26 states that a total of 86,850 communication pipes were replaced by Thames between 1990–91 and 1998–99.