To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the number of disconnections carried out in each of the last five years in the Thames water authority area.

The table shows the number of disconnections carried out by the Thames water authority for non-payment of bills in each of the last five years. The Department does not hold statistics for disconnections on other grounds, or for disconnections carried out by statutory water companies.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if his Department has any information about the dangers of water contamination by pesticides; and if he will make a statement.

Water undertakers have been asked to monitor water supplies for pesticides which are regularly used in their area. I am not aware of any public water supplies containing traces of pesticides at levels which would constitute a health risk.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give details of all types of test carried out to detect contamination and pollution of water supplies, including the frequency of the tests.

Water undertakers test public water supplies at treatment works, service reservoirs, in the distribution system and at consumers' taps. They test for the parameters in the following list, some of which are contaminants. They also test for other substances if there is any suspicion of contamination. The frequency of the tests varies according to the parameter and the situation but is usually considerably greater than the minimum frequencies laid down in the EC directive relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption. In no case is the frequency less than the minimum specified in the directive.

• Colour
• Turbidity
• Odour
• Taste
• Temperature
• pH
• Conductivity
• Chlorides
• Sulphates
• Ammonium
• Kjeldahl Nitrogen
• Oxidisability
• Total Organic Carbon
• Hydrocarbons
• Phenols
• Boron
• Surfactants
• Trihalomethanes
• Silver
• Arsenic
• Cadmium
• Cyanides
• Chromium
• Mercury
• Nickel
• Lead
• Antimony
• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Aluminium
• Total hardness
• Dry residues
• Nitrate
• Nitrite
• Iron
• Manganese
• Zinc
• Phosphorus
• Fluoride
• Suspended solids
• Residual Chlorine
• Barium
• Selerium
• Pesticides in common use
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• Total Coliforms
• Fecal Coliforms
• ¹ Fecal Streptococci
• ¹ Sulphate reducing Clostridia
• Total bacteria

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on consumer choice with regard to fixed charges or metering of water supplies.

At present all water authorities and companies operate a meter option scheme, whereby customers can choose to pay to have a meter installed, and so be charged by measure rather than by rateable value. Following the abolition of domestic rateable values it will be for each water undertaker to decide how to charge customers at present assessed on RVs for their water services, including whether customers should have the choice of being metered.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give a breakdown of the costs involved (a) to the relevant authority, and (b) to the consumer, in the current water metering trials.

One of the objectives of the metering trials is to obtain information on the cost of installing and reading meters in an area, rather than in individual properties. So it is not yet possible to provide reliable estimates of the cost of each proposed trial, the details of which have yet to be submitted for consideration by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State under section 4 of the Public Utilities Transfers and Water Charges Act 1988. However, preliminary estimates by the water undertakers concerned suggest that the cost of the proposed large scale trial on the Isle of Wight may be in the region of about £9 million and each of the 10 smaller trials between £200,000 to £600,000, depending on the location of the meters and the equipment to be used. These costs are in addition to the cost of some preliminary work in the trial areas on monitoring overall consumption for which the Government agreed to pay last year.The Government have also agreed to contribute 50 per cent. of the approved costs of the proposed trial on the Isle of Wight and the ten smaller trials, together forming a co-ordinated programme prepared by the water industry. The remaining share of the costs of the trials will be spread across the generality of each water undertaker's consumers, not only those consumers in the trial areas.