I propose to take Questions Nos. 87, 88, 90, 94 and 96 together.
The Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 provides that the Environmental Protection Agency will make the National Inspection Plan for domestic wastewater treatment systems. A public consultation on a draft plan was publicised by the Agency on 11 October 2012. The submissions received are currently being reviewed by the Agency with a view to finalising the Plan. A training course for the water services authority personnel who will be appointed to carry out inspections under the new legislation is also currently being finalised and this is being overseen by the Water Services Training Group. I understand that the Plan and the training course will be finalised shortly. The training course for inspectors will be extended to suitably qualified local authority staff in early 2013. This will be followed by the commencement of inspections, which will be based on the national inspection plan.
Since enactment of the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 I have made a number of regulations to give effect to the provisions of the primary legislation including the Water Services Acts 2007 and 2012 (Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems) Regulations 2012 which inter alia, set out the requirements for the operation and maintenance of treatment systems. The implementation of all regulations is kept under on-going review. I have no plans at present to make any amendments to the provisions of the Regulations made to date. The Water Services Acts 2007 and 2012 Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems (Registration) Regulations 2012 prescribe 1 February 2013 as the date by which owners of domestic wastewater treatment systems must register their systems. Registration facilities have been available since 26 June 2012. I have no plans to amend the date specified in the legislation.
Since June 2012, a public awareness campaign, which included the nationwide delivery of an information booklet to unsewered households, has helped to inform owners of domestic waste water treatment systems of their legal obligations to register their systems and to operate and maintain their systems so as not to cause a risk to human health or the environment. Prior to inspections commencing in 2013, an extensive information campaign to advise householders of how to comply with the legal requirements regarding operation and maintenance of on-site waste water treatment systems will be undertaken.
As of 29 November, applications in respect of the on-site wastewater treatment systems of 226,156 owners, who have registered on-line, by post or in person at their local authority offices, have been processed. I understand that more than 60,000 registration applications are awaiting processing by the bureau operated by the Local Government Management Agency. In total, therefore, some 290,000 householders have already applied for registration of their waste water treatment systems. Census 2011 recorded that there are 497,281 households served by septic tanks or other treatment systems in Ireland.
Details of the numbers of processed registrations for each County and City Council are set out in the following table.
Water Services Authority
|
Estimated total number of on-site waste water treatment systems
|
Number of on-site waste water treatment systems registered
|
Number of on-site waste water treatment systems registered as a percentage of the estimated total number
|
Carlow County Council
|
7190
|
3448
|
48%
|
Cavan County Council
|
14477
|
7566
|
52%
|
Clare County Council
|
19769
|
13122
|
66%
|
Cork City Council
|
586
|
307
|
52%
|
Cork County Council
|
57993
|
22995
|
40%
|
Donegal County Council
|
32955
|
8377
|
25%
|
Dublin City Council
|
2718
|
66
|
2%
|
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
|
1928
|
656
|
34%
|
Fingal County Council
|
5213
|
1734
|
33%
|
Galway City Council
|
1145
|
403
|
35%
|
Galway County Council
|
42161
|
16894
|
40%
|
Kerry County Council
|
28277
|
18082
|
64%
|
Kildare County Council
|
16795
|
7764
|
46%
|
Kilkenny County Council
|
15368
|
8163
|
53%
|
Laois County Council
|
11309
|
5617
|
50%
|
Leitrim County Council
|
7005
|
3464
|
49%
|
Limerick City Council
|
420
|
136
|
32%
|
Limerick County Council
|
24207
|
9886
|
41%
|
Longford County Council
|
7556
|
4285
|
57%
|
Louth County Council
|
11633
|
4012
|
34%
|
Mayo County Council
|
26659
|
11631
|
44%
|
Meath County Council
|
21687
|
11493
|
53%
|
Monaghan County Council
|
12065
|
4769
|
40%
|
North Tipperary County Council
|
12342
|
5726
|
46%
|
Offaly County Council
|
11170
|
4945
|
44%
|
Roscommon County Council
|
14297
|
7459
|
52%
|
Sligo County Council
|
11192
|
5517
|
49%
|
South Dublin County Council
|
2266
|
665
|
29%
|
South Tipperary County Council
|
14442
|
6945
|
48%
|
Waterford City Council
|
488
|
232
|
48%
|
Waterford County Council
|
11466
|
4724
|
41%
|
Westmeath County Council
|
12165
|
5865
|
48%
|
Wexford County Council
|
26267
|
12327
|
47%
|
Wicklow County Council
|
12070
|
6881
|
57%
|