Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Mar 1999

Vol. 501 No. 4

Written Answers. - Waste Water Treatment.

Olivia Mitchell

Ceist:

18 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the urban authority areas not equipped for full tertiary treatment of sewage and waste water; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6107/99]

Minister for the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Dempsey)

Appendix A of the Environmental Protection Agency's report on Urban Waste Water Discharges in Ireland for 1996 and 1997 sets out the present levels of treatment for the 238 urban areas serving populations of more than 1,000. A copy of the report is available in the Oireachtas Library.

My Department, in conjunction with the local authorities, is engaged in a major programme of works aimed at upgrading and improving water and waste water services. Over the period of the current National Development Plan, 1994 to 1999, more than £960 million of State and EU capital funding will be invested in improving these services. A significant proportion of the overall investment is being made to upgrade and provide waste water treatment and collection systems in accordance with the requirements of the urban waste water treatment directive.

Secondary treatment of waste water represents a high level of treatment that satisfies all the environmental requirements in most cases. This is recognised in Article 4 of the urban waste water treatment directive which requires secondary treatment to be provided by 31 December 2000 for all discharges to freshwaters and estuaries from urban areas of more than 15,000 population equivalent and by 31 December 2005 from urban areas between 2,000 and 15,000 population equivalent. Work is under way on the major schemes required to meet the 2000 deadline, including the waste water schemes in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Dundalk, Drogheda, Wexford and Galway. Planning is being advanced on all the other schemes required. As well as the investment that has already been made, an estimated £750 million remains to be spent over the period of the next National Development Plan on urban waste water treatment and collection systems to meet the requirements of the directive.

It is only in exceptional circumstances that anything more than secondary treatment of waste water is required. Article 5 of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive requires member states to identify sensitive areas according to specific criteria laid down in the directive itself and to provide more stringent treatment for discharges from urban areas of more than 10,000 population equivalent into these sensitive areas before 31 December 1998. Six rivers and four lakes were designated by my Department in 1994 as sensitive areas on the basis of their eutrophic condition and particular attention has been focused on providing phosphorous reduction facilities as well as secondary treatment for these. Of the nine towns with a population equivalent of over 10,000 in the catchments of these sensitive areas, phosphorous reduction facilities were in place at end 1998 at all three major towns in the Derg catchment, namely, Athlone, Nenagh and Tullamore. Similar facilities were also in place at end 1998 at Killarney in the Lough Leane catchment and Castlebar on the Castlebar River and will very shortly be in place at Navan on the Boyne catchment, Longford on the Lough Ree catchment and Cavan on the Lough Oughter catchment.

Going beyond the requirements of the urban waste water treatment directive, phosphorous reduction facilities are also being provided at many towns throughout the country which are below the 10,000 population equivalent threshold but where eutrophication of the receiving waters is a problem. For example, in the Derg/Ree catchment, such facilities are either already in place or are planned for an additional ten towns.