§ 33. Tony CunninghamTony Cunningham (Workington): To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Environment Agency has to deal with the environmental problems suffered by Brassenthwaite Lake [81239]
§ Mr. MorleyThe main environmental problem suffered by Bassenthwaite Lake is eutrophication caused by an increase in nutrient levels, specifically phosphorous, due primarily to diffuse pollution and discharges from waste water treatment works.
Nutrient enrichment of Bassenthwaite Lake will be addressed within the framework of the Environments Agency's national strategy (set out in an Agency publication entitled "Aquatic Eutrophication in England and Wales—A Management Strategy") and through a more targeted Bassenthwaite Lake Restoration Programme that is currently being developed.
Two initiatives currently under way are:
the use of the Agency's regulatory powers to reduce the discharge of phosphorous from Keswick waste water treatment works. The introduction of phosphorous stripping in 1996 has lead to a significant reduction in the amount of phosphorous being discharged to the lake. Additional upgrades to the treatment works planned for 2004 will further reduce phosphate discharges. The Environment Agency will consider what other enhancements are required to waste water treatment works within the Bassenthwaite catchment for the water utilities Asset Management Process period 2005 to 2010;the promotion of the Still Waters partnership within the catchment to promote solutions to nutrient enrichment caused by diffuse pollution that are beyond the remit of any one regulatory body or party. Since land use and land management practices are the primary cause of diffuse phosphorous entering Bassenthwaite Lake and diffuse sources are the biggest contributors of phosphorus pollution in the lake, the Still Waters partnership will focus on ways and means of reducing such inputs.