Written Answers. - Water Pollution.
Deirdre Clune
Question:
20
Ms Clune
asked the
Minister for the Environment and Local Government
the steps, if any, he has taken to address the serious environmental threat to the Shannon and its catchment area following the recent release of an interim report from the Lough Derg and Lough Ree group; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[24089/98]
Bernard J. Durkan
Question:
93
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for the Environment and Local Government
the extent, if any, to which responsibility rests with his Department regarding pollution of water courses; the information, if any, he has regarding the most serious potential for this pollution; if he will initiate any programme to address this serious issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[24287/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 and 93 together.
Statutory responsibility for water management and protection, including responsibility for monitoring water quality, rests primarily with local authorities. The Environmental Protection Agency is also responsible in so far as activities licensible 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.
The EPA water quality report for 1991-1994 indicates that the bulk of Irish surface waters are of good quality. The report draws attention, however, to a growing tendency towards eutrophication, that is, the enrichment of waters beyond natural levels by nutrients, mainly phosphorous. While inputs from sewage and, to a lesser extent, industry contribute to this, discharges from diffuse agricultural sources are largely responsible for the upward trend, overall, in the incidence of slight and moderate pollution. Phosphorus losses from agriculture come from farmyards where waste management practices are inadequate and from leaching and run-off from land, particularly following the spreading of slurries or the use of chemical fertilisers containing phosphorus.
My Department's catchment based strategy against eutrophication, launched in May 1997, provides a clearer focus on, and a more systematic approach to, the problem of eutrophication caused by phosphorus inputs to waters. Several actions have been taken at national level as part of the overall strategy to reduce inputs of phosphorus to our waters. My Department is financing major investment by local authorities to upgrade sewerage networks and waste water treatment facilities throughout the country. This investment programme is substantially supported by the EU Cohesion Fund.
A code of good agricultural practice was launched in 1996 to protect waters from pollution. As part of the ongoing implementation of the strategy, I made regulations last July prescribing statutory standards for phosphorus in rivers and lakes. In August, the Department issued guidelines for nutrient management planning on farms. The development of a voluntary agreement with the Irish Detergents and Allied Products Association to reduce the amount of phosphorus in household detergents is also at an advanced stage. I am committed to the full implementation of the measures for which I am responsible in the strategy.
In regard to Lough Derg and Lough Ree, current data indicate that both lakes are eutrophic. A catchment monitoring and management system is being developed over a three year period for these lakes. Expenditure on the project, which is due for completion in July, 2000, will be approximately £2.3 million, and 85 per cent co-financing is being provided by the European Union Cohesion Fund. An interim report on this project, which was published in September 1998, outlines progress during the first year. The report describes water quality status and proposes water quality objectives for the rivers and lakes, and key environmental indicators against which progress may be gauged. It is primarily intended as a consultative document that will provide a firm basis for ongoing participation by interested parties towards the development of the monitoring and management system.
The project provides a mechanism to implement, in relation to Lough Derg and Lough Ree, the catchment based national strategy to which I have already referred. A substantial programme of investment is also under way in the catchment to upgrade sanitary services facilities. Applications for Cohesion Fund assistance for an integrated catchment protection scheme for Lough Derg and Lough Ree were submitted to the EU Commission in 1994. Stage I of these projects, as approved by the Commission, provides for the planning and/or construction of improved sewerage schemes at 17 locations in the lake catchments at Ballinasloe, Birr, Moate, Tullamore, Roscrea, Nenagh, Portumna, Monksland and Athlone, west bank and Clara in the Lough Derg catchment and at Ballyjamesduff, Roscommon, Boyle, Ballaghdereen, Ballymahon, Granard and Longford in the Lough Ree catchment. Work, which includes the provision of phosphate removal facilities where necessary, has been substantially completed on a number of these schemes and is continuing on the planning/construction of the remainder. Work is also continuing on Banagher and Dromod sewerage schemes which were not included in the Cohesion Fund approval.
I also refer to the reply to Question No. 51 of 13 October 1998.
