Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 6 May 1998

Vol. 490 No. 5

Written Answers. - Pollution Control.

Jack Wall

Question:

28 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the specific proposals, if any, he has, in conjunction with local authorities to minimise the damage to rivers and lakes from pollution as we approach the summer season; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10540/98]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. D. Wallace)

I share the Deputy's concerns about pollution in our inland waterways. Primary responsibility to prevent pollution incidents rests with those engaged in activities that could entail a pollution risk. However, local authorities, as statutory pollution control authorities, have a key role in protecting water resources. The Environmental Protection Agency is also responsible both in so far as activities licensable by the agency are concerned and as part of its overall responsibility for the preparation and implementation of environmental monitoring programmes and the establishment and maintenance of databases of information related to the environment. Extensive statutory powers are available under the Water Pollution Acts, 1977 and 1990 and the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992, to support these bodies in their roles.

In view of my concern about the number and impact of pollution incidents during the summer of 1997, I wrote to local authorities in August 1997 urging them to intensify their efforts to identify potential pollution sources and to take appropriate follow-up action to eliminate the risks involved. The measures I outlined then continue to provide a firm basis for effective action to minimise damage from pollution. Local authorities were particularly asked to ensure that industrial effluent discharge licence conditions, operational practices and material-waste storage facilities are adequate to safeguard water resources. In relation to agriculture, I asked the authorities to pursue a programme of visits to farms and intensive production units and to give special attention to the management of animal slurries, silage effluent and sheep dip facilities, including disposal arrangements. I also emphasised the need to ensure that water and sewage treatment plants are maintained and operated to design specification to prevent pollution.

I have repeatedly urged local authorities to use the statutory provisions available to them to recover costs associated with the prosecution of offenders, including the cost of measures to mitigate or remedy the damage done; these provisions offer a mechanism to offset the effects of pollution and augment the deterrent value of penalties by the courts in line with the "polluter pays" principle.

Alongside my immediate concern to ensure that every effort is made to minimise the risk of pollution incidents, a broadly based and comprehensive strategy is in place to address the increasing levels of eutrophication in rivers and lakes. This strategy incorporates a wide range of measures to tackle phosphorus inputs to waters from sewage, industry and agriculture. In implementing its terms, local authorities have been urged to adopt an integrated catchment based approach to the development and implementation of their pollution control policies.

In view of the critical role which phosphorus plays in the eutrophication process, I will shortly be prescribing environmental quality standards for phosphorus in rivers and lakes to secure phased improvements in the condition of these waters. The effect of defining environmental quality standards for phosphorus will be to oblige local authorities to take all necessary steps to ensure that phosphorus concentrations in fresh-waters do not exceed stated levels. In addition, in the case of relevant activities coming within the integrated pollution control licensing system, conditions imposed by the EPA will have to ensure that the quality standards are fully respected. As part of the implementation of the strategy, I am also preparing guidelines for nutrient management planning on farms.

A wide range of measures are in place to address the environmental impacts of agriculture, including impacts on water quality. These include nutrient management planning, promoted by Teagasc and local authorities as a key management tool in reducing phosphorus losses from farms; efforts to achieve greater uptake by farmers under the rural environment protection scheme, REPS; an improved package of measures has been approved by the EU Commission in respect of natural heritage areas, NHAs, and commonages; improved capital allowances for targeted investment by farmers in pollution control measures; a targeted reduction in artificial P fertiliser usage over the next five years, and detailed advice and recommendations in the Code of Good Agricultural Practice to Protect Waters from Pollution by Nitrates.

The catchment strategy also involves a major investment by my Department in upgraded sewage treatment facilities throughout the country, including phosphorous reduction facilities where warranted in light of local water quality conditions. Catchment based projects supported by the Cohesion Fund provide, in addition, for comprehensive monitoring and management systems which will enable pollution control strategies to be tailored to the particular needs of the local situation.