Since taking office I have increased the annual level of investment in rural water supplies by over 450%. Last year some £39 million was spent compared to the £8.5 million in 1996. As a further measure of the Government's commitment to resolving water quality and related difficulties confronting the group water sector, a record £420 million is being provided in the National Development Plan, 2000–06 for a vigorous rural water programme.
I am very much aware of the extent of the quality problems in group water schemes, particularly those using private sources, and have never made any attempt to minimise them. By and large these schemes, which supply some 50,000 households nationally, lack any form of water treatment or disinfection. This is at the heart of the problem and is the focus of the extensive measures I have initiated to help bring groups into compliance with drinking water standards.