Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 22 Feb 2001

Vol. 531 No. 2

Written Answers. - Water and Sewerage Schemes.

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

50 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the steps which are being taken to address the situation highlighted in the recent report of the Environmental Protection Agency which revealed that more than one-third of the country's sewage was being discharged in an untreated manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5162/01]

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

The position regarding untreated sewage discharges set out in the recent Environmental Protection Agency report on Urban Waste Water Discharges in Ireland, which related to the 1998-99 period, is being rapidly overtaken by developments under my Department's water services investment programme. Some £3 billion has been provided in the national development plan for capital expenditure on water services in the years 2000-06. A major focus of the investment is on the expansion and upgrading of waste water infrastructure.

Of the 37 agglomerations without treatment referred to in the EPA report, the Water Services Investment Programme 2000-2002, announced last July, includes schemes to provide secondary treatment, or better, in 31 of those locations, representing almost 99% of the total effluent load. Schemes already in progress or scheduled to start in 2001 and 2002 will meet the treatment requirements for over 97% of the total load.

The investment programme for 2000-02 is the first phase of a rolling three-year programme that will continue up to the end of the national development plan in 2006. Further waste water schemes will be approved in the next phase of the programme which will roll it forward to 2003.