Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 3 Apr 2001

Vol. 533 No. 6

Written Answers. - Pollution Controls.

John Gormley

Question:

314 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the tests which have been carried out in the Fergus catchment for phosphorus and nitrate levels; and the locations in the area where tests have been carried out. [9809/01]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. D. Wallace): Statutory responsibility for the monitoring, management and protection of water quality is assigned primarily to local authorities under the general supervision of the Environmental Protection Agency – EPA. The statutory functions of the EPA also include the monitoring of the quality of the environment generally, the establishment and maintenance of databases of information related to the environment and making arrangements for the dissemination of such information and for public access to it.

The most recently published national summary data on levels of nitrate and phosphate in rivers are set out in the EPA report "Ireland's Environment: A Millennium Report", a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library. More detailed information relating to individual river catchments is detailed in the EPA report "Water Quality in Ireland – 1995-1997" a copy of which is also available in the Oireachtas Library.