Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 June 2012
150 Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he is concerned that Ireland may face similar estimates as the UK resulting from upgrading sewage plants and drainage networks to prevent ethinyl estradiol EE2 effluent from contaminating Irish sewage and water system and Irish fisheries [28500/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Water Framework Directive requires the European Commission to review, every four years, the list of substances in the aquatic environment that require monitoring and control as potential pollutants. The Commission published a proposal in January to include an additional 15 chemicals including 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and 2 other pharmaceutical substances to the list of 33 existing priority substances.
The proposal is limited to the identification of priority substances and to establishing environmental quality standards for them. No concrete measures to be taken across the EU are prescribed in the proposal and the choice of measures to be taken at river-basin and water-body level would be left to Member States which can choose the most effective way of achieving the objectives taking into account local conditions.
It is clear at this stage that several Member States do not support the inclusion of the pharmaceuticals on the list and discussions on the proposal are expected to continue for some time.
There is little information on the presence and level of EE2 in the aquatic environment in Ireland. It is a difficult substance to monitor and, to date, there has been no requirement to monitor it. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a research call for proposals aimed at improving our knowledge of emerging priority substances, including EE2. When the results of this research are available, we will have a clearer picture as to the environmental and public health impacts of these substances and the strategies that might be deployed to address them.
