Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 July 2015
35. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if there are measures in place to assist a septic tank owner who suspects a problem with the functioning of a tank, which may result in an environmental or health risk, to obtain a local authority inspection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29010/15]
View answerSection 70 of the Water Services Act 2007 places a duty of care on the owner of a premises to ensure that their waste water treatment systems are kept so as not to cause, or be likely to cause, a risk to human health or the environment, including waters, the atmosphere, land, soil, plants or animals, or create a nuisance through odours. The duty of care provisions have been augmented by the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 and associated regulations. Any person whose treatment system fails an inspection or, in the absence of an inspection, considers that their treatment system constitutes, or may constitute, a risk to human health or the environment is responsible for having any necessary remediation works carried out without delay.
Local authorities carry out inspections of septic tanks and similar systems for a variety of reasons, including water quality issues at drinking water sources or within designated shellfish or bathing water catchments and arising from reports of pollution from members of the public. Separately, inspections are carried out based on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Inspection Plan 2015–2017: Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems which uses a risk-based methodology for the selection of systems for inspection taking into account factors such as densities of individual treatment systems across the numerous hydrological and geological settings in Ireland and the locations of sensitive groundwater or surface water receptors. Selection of treatment systems for inspection under the EPA's plan is carried out by the local authorities using an IT system developed by the EPA. Householders cannot request inspections of their own treatment systems, nor are inspections under the plan carried out based on third party complaints.
