§ Mr. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the environmental improvements agreed by Ofwat for the Mersey Basin for the next price review to be completed in 2005. [104292]
§ Mr. MeacherI have placed in the House Libraries a list of the schemes allowed for in the final determination of water industry price limits announced by Director General Ofwat on 25 July 1999, which will improve the waters in the Mersey Basin. The list is made up of 60 continuous discharges and 516 intermittent discharges. These were proposed by the Environment Agency and approved by me as part of my guidance to Ofwat on the provision to be made for investments by water companies to achieve environmental improvements. The Environment Agency is exploring in more detail the benefits of a further five schemes to allow us to assess these against improved information on costs from Ofwat and North West Water.