asked the Minister for the Environment if his attention has been drawn to the claims made by the chairman of the environmental health officers' association (details supplied) that up to 50 per cent of rural water supplies are significantly contaminated by agricultural wastes and that many group water schemes are not monitored for contamination; the measures, if any, he intends to take to improve the quality of rural water supplies and to ensure that water supplies are properly monitored; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Rural Water Pollution.
1.
I am aware of these claims, which related to wells and small group water supply schemes, but I have not seen any evidence to support them. To place the percentage referred to in context, less than 20 per cent of the national population is served by private or by group water supplies, and at least 60 per cent of the group supplies have a public mains supply as their source. Monitoring of water supplies is the responsibility of sanitary authorities, and their powers and duties in this regard are set out in existing sanitary services legislation and in EEC Directive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980 relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption. I will shortly be making regulations to give full effect to the provisions of this directive in Irish law. In addition, the package of measures I announced last autumn to tackle water pollution includes the carrying out of surveys of farms by local task forces, increased attention to educational and awareness aspects of pollution prevention and the strengthening of the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977. I expect that these measures will result in a significant improvement in water quality which will benefit all users of water.
Would the Minister agree that as there is a percentage of cases where there is a clear danger to health and a need to improve the quality, local authorities should get special funding for monitoring the water supply.
All water supplies are subject to chemical and bacteriological testing before the supply schemes are approved and before grants are paid initially. If there is a deterioration subsequent to that for any reason or if deficiencies arise, groups can and do apply to the Department for grant assistance and it is being granted. They can either improve the existing supply or get an alternative source, but all precautions are taken both initially and following further monitoring of the supply.
Would the Minister consider establishing some sort of national water authority to carry out this work? As An Foras Forbartha did a great deal of the monitoring, reporting and recommending, who will do this work now that they no longer exist?
The same people who did it for the last number of years. The regional laboratories carried out that function for An Foras Forbartha and that is not being changed. The same regional authorities and the same type of monitoring will continue. While the regulations have not been made to date, the directive has been implemented administratively. That is in place and I see no reason that we should not continue with the system that has already proved effective.