Under the Water Services Acts 2007 and 2012 (Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems) Regulations 2012, the owner of a domestic waste water treatment system is responsible for its maintenance and renewal and shall ensure that its parts and components are fit for purpose, operational where appropriate and kept in good order and repair so as to prevent a risk to human health or the environment.
My Department provides financial assistance towards the remediation, repair or upgrading works to, or the replacement of a domestic waste water treatment system under new and revised grant schemes which launched in June 2020. The schemes are focused on areas of greatest environmental priority rather than general in application. This is in line with Government Policy which is framed in the context of meeting relevant obligations under legislation.
The grant schemes are administered by the local authorities on behalf of my Department and details of the Terms and Conditions for each scheme can be found on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/6cc1e-domestic-waste-water-treatment-systems-septic-tanks/?referrer=http://www.housing.gov.ie/water/water-quality/domestic-waste-water-systemsseptic-tanks/domestic-waste-water-treatment-1
During the grant development process, my Department engaged with key stakeholders through the Rural Water Working Group in determining the necessary costings, estimates and terms and conditions required for the new and revised grant schemes and therefore a specific cost benefit analysis was not commissioned.
As part of its work, the Working Group proposed a suite of recommendations to the Minister, which were subsequently approved. The revisions expanded the financial support available towards qualifying works on domestic waste water treatment systems in response to the significant and evolving environmental pressures coming from such systems.
The organisations that are represented on the Working Group are: the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; the Department of Rural and Community Development; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Health Service Executive; the National Federation of Group Water Schemes; and the County and City Management Association.
