Written question asked by Brian Jenkins (Labour) on Thursday, 29 October 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 2 November 2009. It was answered by Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour) on Thursday, 5 November 2009 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

River Trent: Pollution

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) cleaning up the recent discharge of cyanide and raw sewage into the River Trent and (b) restoring habitats affected by the discharge.

Answer: The Environment Agency is still assessing the environmental impact of the recent discharge into the River Trent and identifying any further clean-up or restoration work required. The cost of this work is not yet known but will be calculated in due course. If a successful prosecution results from the Environment Agency's investigation into the cause of the discharge, it will be seeking to recover some if not all of its costs from those responsible in order to minimise the cost to the public purse.

Secondary information