Written question asked by Helen Clark (Labour) on Monday, 8 December 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 December 2003. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Wednesday, 17 December 2003 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the pollutant which caused the pollution incident on the River Nene earlier this year has been identified; what levels of the pollutant are still present; how much of the pollutant was discharged; whether the polluter has been identified; and what action is being taken. - Includes no figures.

Answer: Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the pollutant which caused the pollution incident on the River Nene earlier this year has been identified; what levels of the pollutant are still present; how much of the pollutant was discharged; whether the polluter has been identified; and what action is being taken. [143260] Mr. Morley: The Environment Agency (the Agency) has not identified the pollutant that caused this incident. Unusually in this case no immediate impact, such as fish mortality, was observed and the effects of the pollutant were identified following routine monitoring of the River Nene by the Agency in May of this year. This makes it likely that considerable time elapsed between the pollutant being discharged to the river and the environmental impact being observed. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to determine how much pollutant was discharged and to establish a link between a pollutant source and the incident. The Agency await a report from its Special Enforcement team on whether it is possible to link evidence obtained from a possible source with the incident. However this may not be possible due to the probable time lapse between the incident and detection.

Secondary information