The timeframe in which we deal with any issue is a reflection of how serious we feel the matter is. The quality of our drinking water affects the health and quality of life of everyone in the country – young and old, resident and tourist, politicians and electorate. The EPA report on the quality of drinking water in Ireland in 1997 was not published until some weeks ago and it stated that of the 5,500 group water schemes serving 150,000 households, less than 20 per cent are tested for quality probably only once during the year. Of the 80,000 private water supplies, less than half of 1 per cent were tested, with virtually all of them breaching EU drinking water regulations. The overall quality of Irish water is said to be good but this hides the fact that water is generally very good in urban areas and generally bad in rural areas.
In terms of water purification regimes used in Ireland, it is interesting to note that the EPA does not know what water purification regime, if any, is used in 87 per cent of group water schemes and private supplies tested. When and if water is treated, it mostly involves the addition of chlorine to the water. The EPA report recommends that minimum quantities of chlorine be added to water during treatment because excessive levels contribute greatly to odour and taste problems.
Are there greener alternatives to chlorine? I believe there are. One of these has been available to the rest of the world for almost a century. It was first used in France in 1898 and is in operation in hundreds of water treatment facilities around the world. It is in extensive use in the United States, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and other countries. It is known as ozone purification and, as far as I am aware, very few people in the water treatment business in Ireland know much about it, apart from a small start-up company I recently discovered and staff at our single ozone treatment plant in the west. There is a compelling health reason, apart from odour and taste, why ozone is reducing the amounts of chlorine used around the world.
In the 1970s it was discovered that chlorine produced extremely dangerous by-products called trihalomethanes, generally known as THMs. They are produced when chlorine reacts with organic matter in water such as leaves, fish, algae, etc. THMs cause cancer and double the risk of serious birth defects and early term miscarriage. As a result of this discovery, the health and water authorities in many countries introduced ozone purification into their water treatment processes to rid their water supplies of organic matter and other contaminants, thereby reducing the quantity of chlorine required. This, in turn, reduced the levels of THMs and risk to public health. Ozone is merely activated oxygen. It is a gas with a half life of minutes which can be more than 3,000 times more effective as a sterilising agent than chlorine and any excess unutilised ozone in water turns back into oxygen. Ozone is being adopted worldwide as a green solution. It was first used in France in 1898, long before the Green Party arrived on the political scene.
We test for THMs in our water but that was done only 142 times in 1997, covering 1,005 public schemes, 5,500 group water schemes and 80,000 private wells. In some US water schemes, water is tested for THMs every two hours. The tests carried out in 1997 showed that in 15 cases THMs were at or above 75 parts per billion, the threshold which, in the United States, would have triggered a public health warning to expectant mothers not to drink tap water. However, the issue was not deemed serious enough to warrant action and the results of the test were not made public until two years later. The test for THMs are carried out by the sanitary authorities but the water samples must be sent to the UK for analysis. It is difficult to understand why our accredited State laboratories cannot carry out these tests.
We are falling behind the rest of the world in terms of testing, treating and delivering quality drinking water, particularly in rural Ireland. I hope I have convinced the Minister that this matter is not being taken seriously enough by those in a position to do something about it. The evidence of our THMs and the fact that we are only now beginning to discuss this matter, 30 years after corrective action was taken by other countries are causes of concern.
I urge the Minister of State to ask the Minister responsible to investigate this matter with a view to initiating corrective action this year so that we can reinstate ourselves as the clean air and clean water capital of the world.
