To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the cost of constructing a mains pipeline link into the Yorkshire Water area from an adjacent water authority area. [6431]

The cost of such a pipeline would depend on the length, the type of terrain to be crossed and whether there are suitable water treatment facilities to process the water. Yorkshire Water announced a new programme on 13 December, estimated to cost around £50 million and to be completed by early next summer, to provide some 35 miles of new pipeline and five new pumping stations to create a new east-west link from the Yorkshire grid near Selby to the major conurbations of West Yorkshire.