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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has held with representatives of Welsh Water on the timeframe for that company's upgrading of its sewage works to remove phosphates.

Since 2001, all large Welsh Water sewage treatment works in the English part of the Wye catchment have had specific treatment technology in place to reduce the level of phosphorus discharged to the receiving water.

Regular discussions take place between Welsh Water and the Environment Agency on the issue of phosphorus, and additional work is planned as part of this water industry investment period (2020 to 2025) to further reduce the level of phosphorus discharged to the Wye catchment.

Across the country, improvements made to sewage treatment works have helped to achieve a 61% reduction in the amount of phosphorus discharged from sewage treatment works since 1995.