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Water Quality

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 October 2020

Tuesday, 6 October 2020

Questions (56)

Rose Conway-Walsh

Question:

56. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will report on the role of the EPA in ensuring water quality on Achill Island; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25165/20]

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Written answers

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the supervisory authority for public water supplies in Ireland. Irish Water is responsible for monitoring the quality of public water supplies while local authorities are responsible for monitoring the quality of water provided by other suppliers. The role of the EPA in relation to public drinking water supplies is set out in the European Union (Drinking Water) Regulations 2014 (as amended).

Under these regulations, the EPA can direct Irish Water to improve the management or quality of a public water supply. The regulations also require Irish Water to notify the EPA of drinking water quality failures or risk to public health from a public water supply.

In their role as the supervisory authority, the EPA also carries out audits of public water supplies. These audits are an important way of checking how water suppliers are performing in compliance with Drinking Water Regulations and examine a number of areas including the water source, the water treatment works, management of the distribution system, sampling and analytical methods used and consumer contacts.

Where the EPA requires Irish Water to take corrective action to ensure the safety and security of a supply, it may place the supply on the EPA’s Remedial Action List (RAL). The RAL is a register of public water supplies with the most serious deficiencies and where remedial action is required to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Drinking Water Regulations. The EPA uses the RAL to focus attention on resolving any deficiencies in public water supplies in order to ensure a supply of clean and wholesome drinking water.

For the supplies on the RAL, the EPA will instruct Irish Water to submit an action programme for the improvement of each of these water supplies and where action programmes have not been prepared or implemented to the satisfaction of the EPA, it will implement enforcement proceedings. This includes issuing legally binding Directions requiring specific work to be carried out to ensure the safety and security of a water supply and ultimately the EPA may take court action, when necessary and in accordance with its enforcement policy.

The EPA also produces an annual Public Supply Drinking Water Report and Private Supply Drinking Water Report, which provide an overview of the quality of drinking water in public and private supplies. The reports are based on the assessment of monitoring results reported to the EPA by Irish Water and the local authorities, and on EPA and local authority enforcement activities.

The EPA’s latest report ‘Drinking Water Quality in Public Supplies 2019’ published in July, shows that overall our water supplies are safe, with over 99% of water samples complying with safety limits. The report also highlights a further reduction in the number of supplies on the EPA’s remedial action list. Copies of the EPA's Drinking Water Reports for Public Supplies and Private Water Supplies are available on the EPA website at https://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/water/drinking/ and in the Oireachtas library.

While the quality of our drinking water supplies remains very high, the EPA has also set out the risks and challenges that remain, with Irish Water also recognising that “much more remains to be done”. Our entire water system needs substantial and sustained investment over a number of investment cycles to fully improve performance and resilience. Investment will also need to deliver new water capacity for our growing population and to deal with the increasing impacts of climate change.

Prioritising the order of this work, and the associated investment, involves ongoing engagement between Irish Water and its regulators (the EPA and Irish Water's economic regulator, the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities) to ensure an effective and efficient delivery of necessary water quality outcomes and to improve overall water-system resilience.

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