Vol. 521 No. 1
227 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the measures, if any, he will take to safeguard the purity and quality of groundwater here; the resources that have been committed by his Department in the last two years in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16595/00]
I refer to the reply to Question No. 593 of 26 January, 2000 concerning the measures being taken in relation to the protection of groundwater.
A groundwater quality monitoring programme is undertaken by the Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with local authorities and with the co-operation of the Geological Survey of Ireland. Comprehensive statutory provision for the protection of groundwater is contained in the Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts, 1977 and 1990, the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 and related legislation. Additional measures are put in place as required. I made the Protection of Groundwater Regulations, 1999, (S.I. No. 41 of 1999) in February 1999 in relation to discharges to aquifers by local authorities. Guidelines prepared jointly by the GSI, the EPA and my Department, on the preparation of groundwater protection schemes were issued to local authorities in May 1999. Proposals are also being developed in my Department for additional measures to be taken for the protection of groundwater against pollution by nitrates, including the designation of nitrate vulnerable zones in accordance with EU Directive 91/676/EC.
My Department's rural water programme comprises a range of targeted initiatives to improve the quality and efficiency of rural water supply systems and includes a specific measure to monitor the quality of groundwater and surface water sources nationally to determine the causes of pollution and to implement effective surface and groundwater source protection measures. Expenditure in 1999 under this programme amounted to some £210,000 and expenditure in the current year is estimated at £700,000.
Since 1997 my Department has been pursuing a comprehensive, integrated catchment-based strategy to tackle pollution of inland surface waters. Details of the strategy, including objectives and operation, are set out in the strategy document, Managing Ireland's Rivers and Lakes – A Catchment-Based Strategy against Eutrophication, a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library. Major catchment-based projects are under way in relation to loughs Derg and Ree, Lough Leane and the three rivers, Boyne, Liffey and Suir, at a combined cost of some £6.82 million which is supported by European Union funds. The projects are led by local authorities and involve the participation of a wide range of stakeholders. My Department is now actively extending this strategy by promoting the establishment by local authorities, in the short to medium term, of catchment-based projects to address all sources of pollution in all inland and coastal waters, including groundwaters. In December 1999 local authorities were advised that financial assistance would be available in the context of the national development plan to support expenditure on such projects at a rate of up to 85% to develop such catchment-based water monitoring and management systems on an inter-authority basis.
