To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to prohibit the use of long sea outfalls for sewage disposal in the Bristol channel and set a date for this prohibition.

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced to the House on 5 March, the Government have decided that in general municipal sewage should receive secondary treatment, but that primary treatment would be more appropriate for discharges to coastal waters, where it can be shown that this does not adversely affect the environment, Official Report, volume 168, column 452.It will be for the National Rivers Authority to implement this policy by using its powers to consent discharges.