Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the specifications of the Severn Trust Water sewage treatment plants at (a) Strongford, (b) Minworth, (c) Coleshill and (d) Tamworth.

Huw Irranca-Davies (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Marine and Natural Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Ogmore, Labour)

Discharges from sewage treatment plants to surface water are required to have prior authorisation under the requirements of the Water Resources Act (1991). Discharge consent is issued under Section 88 of the Act.

The setting of these conditions involves assessing the needs of the receiving watercourse and calculating the standards a sewage treatment works must achieve in order to avoid causing damage to the environment. In most cases, these 'river needs' are prescribed by EC directives or national legislation.

Emission limits are typically set for ammonia, biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids and, where necessary, can also include pesticides, metals and other substances deemed dangerous to the environment. It is the role of the operator to design the appropriate type of treatment works to achieve the specified standards. This applies to all the plants mentioned. Discharges are regularly monitored to ensure that these standards are met.