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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential (a) impact of the AUK1 specification for toilet backflow protection on the quality of drinking water and (b) merits of formally adopting the new AUK4 standard.

Under the previous Government, a small number of cases of contamination of drinking water have been discovered in which water from toilet cisterns re-entered (or backflowed into) a building’s drinking water system. The water industry and the Bathroom Manufacturers Association set up a task and finish group to identify the issues, review relevant technical specifications, and suggest solutions. Defra considered the proposals and consulted on amendments (which include a new AUK4 specification).

We are finalising the summary of responses from the consultation and the government response to them and will consider approval of the new and updated specifications in due course.