Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 28 Jan 1999

Vol. 499 No. 2

Written Answers. - Water Quality.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

52 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the plans, if any, he has to ensure both quality and quantity of domestic water supplies; if so, if these plans have taken cognisance of increased demand arising from extra population and industrial investment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2170/99]

Minister for the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Dempsey)

Last Monday, I announced my Department's water and sewerage services investment programme for 1999 which contains a range of measures to expand the water supply infrastructure to meet domestic and industrial demand, to improve treatment and to conserve water supplies. This year's provision of over £275 million represents a 50 per cent increase on expenditure on these services in 1998 and is more than double the provision for these services in 1996. Between 1994 and the end of 1999 over £960 million will have been spent on water and sewerage services which, even allowing for adjustments for inflation, is well in excess of the £605 million envisaged in the National Development Plan 1994-99.

This 1999 programme includes 18 major public water schemes to commence construction this year at a cost of £61 million, a further 16 to continue construction at a cost of £79 million and 27 schemes worth £152 million to be advanced through planning.

A major programme of water conservation works comprising 15 schemes with a total cost of just under £50 million will also continue this year. Thirteen of these schemes are already under way and the remaining two will commence in the short-term. The water conservation programme includes the Dublin region water conservation scheme which aims to reduce leakage in the water supply systems in the region from 40 per cent to 20 per cent of water produced within the next few years, saving an estimated 22 million gallons of water per day.

I have also commissioned consultants to carry out a national water audit entailing the collection and analysis of data for each of the medium to large public water supplies which have not yet been the subject of a study to assess the adequacy of existing systems for each area served and to make recommendations as to the appropriate approach for improving inadequate supplies to cater for existing and future demand. The consultants are due to report by the end of this year.

Annual EPA reports on the quality of drinking water in Ireland confirm the fundamentally good quality of drinking water supplies. These reports show, however, quality deficiencies in privately sourced group water supplies which serve about 5 per cent of households in the country. This year's investment programme includes over £28 million for an expanded rural water programme to address these deficiencies and to provide additional group and small public water supplies. The 1999 provision represents an increase of almost 34 per cent on capital expenditure on the rural water programme in 1998. The programme will fund a range of existing measures including capital grants for the new group supplies or for the takeover or upgrading of existing supplies, subsidies towards the operational costs of group supplies, individual well grants and grants for small public water schemes. It also includes £3 million, as the first tranche of a £5 million package announced in the budget, to support a much more comprehensive quality testing regime for group supplies. The outputs from this new measure will provide essential information to guide future policy initiatives aimed at redressing poor quality group supplies.

The Government has also committed £39 million of Exchequer funding for the provision of water and sewerage services to support residential development through the serviced land initiative. I approved a total of 161 schemes under the initiative last year with an estimated value of £100 million which will provide over 100,000 additional housing sites within the next few years.

My Department, along with other Departments, the regional authorities and the social partners, are involved in a process of prioritising investment for the period of the next National Development Plan 2000-6. The need for future investment in water treatment and distribution capacity is being assessed as part of this process.