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Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 22 Oct 2009

Vol. 197 No. 8

Water and Sewerage Schemes.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this issue, the need for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to give the names and numbers of water and sewerage schemes in Donegal that are not in compliance with current European directives and the towns and villages that are still awaiting schemes to come into compliance with all relevant EU directives.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady, for attending. She is a regular visitor to the Seanad. My home town does not have a sewerage scheme and the raw sewage is being discharged untreated into the River Foyle. It is not the only town in that situation. Carndonagh was provided with a water and sewerage scheme recently but the scheme in Buncrana requires upgrading. As the bigger villages and towns are not being dealt with, small villages such as Ballyliffin do not have schemes either as they are awaiting prioritisation.

I am concerned about the delay in addressing this situation. It is almost 30 years since it was suggested that Moville would get a sewerage scheme. There is controversy over where it should be sited but I will not come down on either side other than point out that there must be an end to a process as well as a start. I am aware that legislation was passed to speed up the provision of infrastructure but our current economic situation is not as good as it was, although investment for water and sewerage schemes remains high and there is a strong commitment to it.

A number of years ago directives were issued by the European Union relating to water quality and bathing water. These demand that the Irish Government and the local authorities bring towns and villages into compliance with standards. Deadlines were set for towns and villages with populations of over 15,000, 10,000, 5,000, 1,500 and under 1,500. Aside from my concern that towns do not have a sewerage scheme and the necessary upgraded water supplies, there is also the concern that Europe might fine Ireland with daily fines for not being in compliance with directives. We have already had our knuckles rapped by Europe with regard to Letterkenny.

The impediments to getting this basic infrastructure in place must be met head on. I am not trying to subvert the process but there have been processes taking place in some places for decades. The EU directives loom before us and the worst way we should spend money at this point is in making compensation payments to Europe for failing to comply with the directives. My aim in this regard is simple. Sometimes I have a great deal to say about an issue but not on this. It is very clear. I have asked the Minister to highlight the number of schemes in Donegal, why they are not progressing and what the Minister will do to ensure they will progress. If the compliance date has not already been breached in the case of most of these schemes, it will be soon. I want to be able to say that at least I tried to warn the Minister before we get into a situation where we are paying what could be up to €100,000 per day for non-compliance with the directives. I would prefer that money was spent more constructively on my constituents instead of the taxpayer paying the cost of fines for uncompleted works. It is as simple as that.

I will reply on behalf of my colleague, Deputy John Gormley, Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The compliance of water supplies and waste water discharges with regulatory requirements is a matter of the utmost concern and I thank the Senator for raising this important subject. We have been addressing deficits in the water sector through a combination of investment, legislative reform and stronger monitoring and enforcement in recent years. The priority attached by the Government to investment in water services is reflected in funding of €500 million for investment in water services this year.

As the Senator will probably be aware, the operation and management of public water services is the responsibility of city and county councils. These councils carry out their water services functions under the general supervision and guidance of the Environmental Protection Agency. As part of the agency's remit, it regularly publishes reports on the provision and quality of drinking water and the discharge of urban waste water. The most recent, and relevant, reports on these topics are The Provision and Quality of Drinking Water In Ireland — A Report for the Years 2007 — 2008 and Urban Waste Water Discharges in Ireland for Population Equivalents Greater than 500 Persons — A Report for the Years 2006 — 2007. Copies of both reports are available in the Oireachtas Library.

With regard to drinking water, the EPA's report demonstrates that the overall quality of our water is good and that further progress has been made in improving water quality in recent years. The report indicates that the overall compliance in County Donegal was 95.3% in 2007 which was a slight improvement on the position in 2006. A number of public water supplies in County Donegal were included in a remedial action list, which was first prepared by the EPA in 2008. Inclusion in this list means the scheme requires detailed profiling from catchment to consumer to determine whether the supply needs to be replaced or upgraded, or operational practices improved to ensure the water supplied to the general public is clean and wholesome. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the EPA have put in place quarterly monitoring arrangements to track progress on the implementation of remedial actions on the supplies on the list. The latest available list includes 23 supplies in County Donegal that require some form of remediation. I will make a list of these supplies available to the Senator and it will be recorded at the end of this reply.

In overall terms, some of the supplies on the remedial action list are already included for upgrades under the Water Services Investment Programme 2007-2009. In other cases, the issues can be addressed through operational improvements or minor improvements works. Special funding has been provided in both 2008 and 2009 for such minor improvement works. The total funding amounts to almost €18 million, of which €1.2 million was allocated to County Donegal.

Turning to wastewater, since 2000 Exchequer investment of €2.5 billion on major schemes has resulted in an increase in wastewater treatment capacity equivalent to the needs of a population of 3.6 million. Compliance with the requirements of the EU urban wastewater treatment directive relating to secondary wastewater treatment facilities now stands at some 92%, compared to 25% at the start of 2000. A number of the larger urban locations highlighted in the report as being non-compliant in 2006 and 2007 now have treatment plants in place, for example, in Donegal town and Ballyshannon. The remaining schemes in County Donegal that the EPA lists as requiring secondary treatment, in Dungloe, Falcarragh, Moville and Killybegs, are included for planning in the Water Services Investment Programme 2007-2009.

In the past few months local authorities have been preparing an assessment of needs for both water and sewerage services. These assessments, due for return to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government this week, will form a key input to the development of the 2010 to 2012 water services investment programme. In conducting their assessments, local authorities have been asked to prioritise schemes and contracts for progression in the coming years based on key environmental and economic criteria.

The County Donegal remedial action list schemes are: Ballintra, Ballyshannon, Burnfoot, Carrick — Teelin, Carrigar — Downings, Cashilard, Creeslough, Fanad West — Tullyconnel, Presses — Inver, Glenties — Ardara, Gortahork — Falcarragh, Greencastle, Inishowen west, Killybegs, Letterkenny, Lifford (old), Lough Mourne, Malinmore, Pettigo, Portnoo — Nairn, Rathmullen, Rosbeg, Rosses regional.

The Minister has clearly avoided the issue. First, Moville will require tertiary treatment and, second, it should have been in the pipeline for the last 30 years but it has not. The Minister says it is at the planning stage but various reports have gone to various bodies in the last decade. The Minister will not have the information to hand but could the Department supply me with a full report on when Moville was first on the Department's agenda and what has happened at every six month stage since? To state that it is still in the planning process and that key environmental and economic criteria must be examined as to when this issue will be addressed does not take into account that raw sewage is going into the River Foyle. It is a key environmental concern. The fact that Moville does not have basic facilities such as water and sewerage means I cannot attract industry to the area. This is not in compliance and it says it is not in compliance. What will the Minister do to address this, along with the local authority?

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