Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 January 2014
491. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the rivers and waterways here into which the chemical chromium VI is released; and the levels of this heavy metal that are released. [55364/13]
View answerChromium VI and Chromium III are listed as specific substances in the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Surface Waters) Regulations 2009. These Regulations contain Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for substances discharged to waters.
In accordance with these Regulations, monitoring of Irish surface waters is undertaken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by local authorities. Metals, including total chromium in all its forms, are monitored in rivers on a monthly basis at 173 surveillance sites.
There is extensive monitoring of chromium discharges, covering both relevant industrial facilities and municipal wastewater treatment plants. In instances of chromium discharges, Chromium III is the predominant type. In accordance with the Regulations, measurement of the concentrations of Chromium VI is only required when monitoring detects total chromium levels above the EQS set out in the Regulations. Where exceedances occur an assessment should be made of the potential discharges of Chromium VI into the relevant water body. Where there is a risk of Chromium VI contamination, speciation studies must be carried out. To date no rivers have exceeded their annual average EQS although a limited number of elevated total chromium samples have been detected. However, these are generally related to single samples from sites.
Validated data extracted from the national Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) indicates that in 2010 - 2012 approximately 307Kg of chromium and its compounds were released to Irish surface waters. 198.3Kg of this was estimated to be derived from municipal wastewater treatment plant returns using a modelling tool based on averaged flows and concentrations.
