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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to monitor levels of pharmaceutical pollution in waterways.

The Environment Agency (EA) routinely monitors for over 100 pharmaceuticals within rivers using semi-quantitative methods that are routinely updated as new risks are identified by the EA's Prioritisation and Early Warning System (PEWS). The EA works with the water industry on the Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP), which considers pharmaceuticals in sewage effluent.

The Government has been working with water companies under their Chemical Investigations Programme (CIP), to improve the evidence base on the fate of contaminants following treatment processes. The current phase of the Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP4) includes a specific project to monitor pharmaceuticals in wastewater.

As a founding member of the Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE) group, the EA advises on policy initiatives that will reduce pharmaceutical contamination of surface waters.