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Water Quality

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 February 2013

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Questions (592, 596, 597, 614, 619)

Clare Daly

Question:

592. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government noting his response to questions on the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 on 16 January 2013, where he claims that desludging a septic tank more regularly may be all that is required to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency requirements, if he will explain the reduction in polluting strength of effluent that can be acheived by desludging the entry chamber to a septic tank and the way such minimal action can further the attempt to comply with the EU Water Services Directive. [5798/13]

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Finian McGrath

Question:

596. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm the entire legal costs to date of defending the action of the European Court of Justice decision to impose fines on Ireland for breaching EU legislation since the 2009 ECJ judgment on wastewater; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5842/13]

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Finian McGrath

Question:

597. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount Ireland has paid in fines to date following the recent European Court of Justice decision to impose fines on Ireland for breaching EU legislation on wastewater systems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5843/13]

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Bernard Durkan

Question:

614. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which provision has been made to address the issue of groundwater pollution from septic tanks or other sources of any such pollution; the degree to which provision is now in place to meet such requirements in full; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5971/13]

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Dominic Hannigan

Question:

619. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to any potential EU fines of €12,000 a day for a failure to comply with EU regulations on waste water and septic tanks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6063/13]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 592, 596, 597, 614 and 619 together.

The Water Services Acts 2007 and 20012 (Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems) Regulations 2012 provide that treatment systems should be de-sludged at intervals that are appropriate to the tank capacity and to the numbers of persons resident in the premises to which the system is connected or as recommended by the system’s manufacturer. The Environmental Protection Agency, in its Code of Practice: Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Systems Serving Single Houses, advises that regular de-sludging of a septic tank is required to ensure that the system continues to operate effectively.

On 19 December 2012, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a judgment against Ireland in the Case C-374/11 which imposed a lump sum fine of €2 million and daily fines of €12,000 for failure to comply with the ECJ judgment C-188/08 in which the Court found that Ireland had failed to transpose into domestic legislation the requirements of the Waste Directive regarding the disposal of domestic waste water from septic tanks and other individual treatment systems. The European Commission has yet to write formally to the Irish authorities regarding the fines imposed by the ECJ and so there has been no payment or settlement of these fines yet. It is understood that formal letters will issue from the Commission shortly. My Department is liaising closely with the Commission on these matters.

The EPA, in its report Water Quality in Ireland 2007-2009, has identified on-site waste water treatment systems as one of a number of potential sources of micro-biological contamination of groundwater sources. The EPA recommends that vulnerable groundwater sources may require special protection measures and that the design and location of abstractions wells is essential to protect against organic inputs.

The overall strategy of investment in water services is to ensure that the timing and scale of investment facilitates economic and other development, achieves compliance with statutory requirements and promotes environmental sustainability objectives. The main vehicle for achieving these objectives for public wastewater infrastructure is the multi-annual Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2013. The programme provides for the commencement of contracts with a value of over €1 billion in relation to wastewater infrastructure.

The EPA is responsible for carrying out Ireland’s national groundwater monitoring programme which consists of a network of some 350 monitoring points. The network has been designed to be representative of the variations in hydrogeology and anthropogenic pressures across a groundwater body and is subject to ongoing review as circumstances change. Threshold values for mandatory substances under the Priority and Dangerous Substances Directives have been established in the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Groundwater) Regulations 2010 and they apply to all groundwater bodies nationally.

In addition to the above, the European Communities (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2010 contain provisions aimed at protecting ground and surface waters, including drinking water sources primarily through the management of livestock manures and other fertilisers. Such measures include a limit on the level of livestock manure which may be applied to land each year, the capacity levels of storage vessels necessary for livestock manure and periods when the land application of certain types of fertiliser is prohibited.

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