§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of the population in England and Wales has access to(a) mains sewage systems, (b) unadopted sewers, (c) private sewers and (d) septic tanks, broken down by local authority. [162895]
§ Mr. MorleyEstimates of the number of properties served by various types of sewerage system vary. The W.S. Atkins research found that:
- (a) Approximately 90 per cent. of the properties in England and Wales have access to mains sewerage.
- (b) Assuming 'unadopted sewers' mean all private sewers i.e. they are not adopted by the relevant sewerage undertaker then 40 per cent. of properties connect to public sewers via unadopted sewers.
- (c) Assuming 'private sewers' means sewers which connect to a private treatment facility i.e. not part of the public system—then 10 per cent. of properties are estimated to be connected to completely private systems. This includes those connected to private treatment facilities, septic tanks and cesspools.
- (d) No data are available on the number of properties with septic tank.
Information expressed as a proportion of the population is not available and r either is information available broken down by local authority areas.