Trevor Sargent
Question:244 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the objectives and operation of river catchment management. [15363/00]
Written Answers. - River Catchment Management.
River catchment management is a generic term used to describe the undertaking of any aspect of river management on the basis of the whole river catchment. The objectives and operations vary according to the subject in question, for example flooding, fisheries management, water quality, navigable waterways, protection of habitats.
In so far as my Department is concerned, catchment based river management refers primarily to the protection and improvement of water quality. Eutrophication due to excess inputs of phosphorus has been identified as the main threat to water quality in Ireland. Since 1997, my Department has been pursuing a comprehensive, integrated catchment based strategy to tackle all sources of phosphorus. Details of the strategy, including objectives and operation, are set out in the strategy document Managing Ireland's Rivers and Lakes – A Catchment-Based Strategy against Eutrophication a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library. Major catchment-based projects are under way in relation to Loughs Derg and Lough Ree, Lough Leane and the three Rivers – Boyne, Liffey and Suir. The projects are led by local authorities and involve the participation of a wide range of stakeholders. The strategy is statutorily underpinned by the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977 (Water Quality Standards for Phosphorus) Regulations, 1998, which set targets for reducing phosphorus levels in rivers and lakes by 2007. The strategy is also supported by my Department's major programme of investment, under the National Development Plan, 2000-2006, £3,000 million, three times the amount in 1994-99 national development plan, for water and waste water infrastructure and rural water, the bulk of which is for sewage infrastructure.
My Department is actively promoting the establishment by local authorities, in the short to medium term, of catchment based projects to address all sources of pollution in all inland and coastal waters, including groundwaters. In December 1999 local authorities were advised that financial assistance would be available in the context of the national development plan to support expenditure on projects to develop such catchment based water monitoring and management systems on an inter-authority basis.
Ireland's catchment-based strategy is in line with the approach envisaged under the proposed EU framework directive on water policy which provides for comprehensive water management on the basis of river basins and river basin districts.