Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 8 May (HL7364), whether water companies are required to operate phosphate removal plants.

There is no automatic requirement for water companies to provide and operate specific phosphorus removal treatment at sewage treatment works.

The requirement for such treatment depends on the environmental legislation and standards that apply to the receiving water into which a sewage treatment work discharges. Where a receiving water is a designated sensitive area (eutrophic) under the urban waste water treatment regulations, sewage treatment works of a particular size will require the provision of phosphorus removal treatment to meet standards set out in the regulations. Alternatively, where environmental standards in the receiving water are not achieved to meet the Water Framework Directive regulations and conservation requirements, phosphorus removal treatment may be required at a sewage treatment work.

The requirements for treatment and the limits to be achieved are set out in the environmental permit to discharge for each sewage treatment work which is issued and regulated by the Environment Agency in England.