Vol. 533 No. 6
312 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the expected timeframe for the implementation of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive; and if he will make reference to the guidelines he intends applying based on population. [9807/01]
The Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992 (Urban Waste Water Treatment) Regulations, 1994 transpose the EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) into Irish law. The regulations require the provision of collecting systems and secondary treatment facilities for waste water in all sizeable towns, or agglomerations as defined in the regulations by end 2005. The timescale for providing these facilities is governed by the size of the agglomeration and the nature of the receiving waterbody.
A deadline of 31 December 2000 applied to agglomerations with a population equivalent in excess of 15,000. These include our major cities and towns such as Cork, Clonmel, Drogheda, Dublin, Dundalk, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford. Projects are well advanced in respect of all of these areas which account for more than 80% of all urban waste water discharges in Ireland.
For towns with a population equivalent of less than 15,000, a deadline of 31 December 2005 applies as follows: the provision of collecting systems for towns with a population equivalent between 2,000 and 10,000; the provision of secondary treatment for towns with a population equivalent between 2,000 and 10,000 discharging to freshwaters/estuaries, and the provision of collecting systems and secondary treatment for towns with a population equivalent of between 10,000 and 15,000.
In line with the requirements of the directive, ten inland waters – six rivers and four lakes – were identified as sensitive areas. The regulations require that treatment more stringent than secondary treatment, generally referred to as tertiary treatment, be provided by 31 December 1998 in relation to discharges to sensitive waters from agglomerations in excess of 10,000 population equivalent. Tertiary treatment involving phosphorus reduction facilities are now in place in all of these locations. I will be making regulations in the near future to designate further areas as sensitive areas.
The national development plan – NDP – provides for investment of almost £3 billion over the period 2000-2006 on water and waste water infrastructure. The investment includes £728 million to complete the 24 waste water schemes required by the directive by end 2000 and £421 million in respect of 62 additional schemes required by 2005. In July 2000, I announced the first phase of a rolling three-year water services investment programme to cover the period 2000 to 2002 a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library. The programme will be rolled forward by one year at a time up to the end of the NDP.
