Holly Cairns
Question:13. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps that he is taking to address cases of untreated wastewater entering streams and rivers. [47322/22]
View answerWednesday, 28 September 2022
Questions (13)
Written answers
Since 1st January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level, including investment in waste water treatment plants and returning treated waste water safely to the environment in an efficient and sustainable manner. The Environmental Protection Agency is the environmental regulator for Irish Water and including compliance in relation to licensed urban waste water discharges.
The discharge of untreated sewage must be comprehensively addressed as soon as possible. When Irish Water was established in 2014, they inherited a system in need of very significant improvement. Irish Water has been working with local authority partners to improve the entire waste water system by investing in new infrastructure and by improving the performance of our treatment plants.
Irish Water has built new wastewater infrastructure for 18 towns and villages across the country, ending the discharge of raw sewage into the environment, with an additional 15 locations currently under construction. Irish Water is on track to fully remove the majority of raw sewage discharges in Ireland by 2025.
In 2022, funding of over €1.57 billion was provided to support water services. This includes €1.459 billion in respect of domestic water services provision by Irish Water.
This investment will deliver significant improvements in our public waste water services and improve water quality in our rivers, lakes and marine areas.
Question No. 14 answered with Question No. 7.