Vol. 482 No. 8
191 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 246 of 4 November 1997 if he will give details of the principles underlying his Department's sludge strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19525/97]
The guiding principle behind my Department's sludge strategy is that, in accordance with Article 14 of European Council Directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban waste water treatment, sludge arising from waste water treatment shall be reused whenever appropriate. A national strategy study on the options for the treatment and disposal of sewage sludge in Ireland was carried out for my Department in 1993 with the objective of identifying appropriate solutions for the treatment and disposal of sewage sludge in Ireland which meet legislative, technical and environmental requirements. A copy of the final report of the study is available in the Oireachtas Library. In addition, my Department has recently appointed consultants to, inter alia, review and update the findings of the strategy study in so far as they relate to the land spreading of treated sewage sludge. The consultants work is expected to be completed by mid-1998.
