I propose to take Questions Nos. 143, 153, 154 and 156 together.
The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that Irish Water can collect charges from its customers in receipt of water services provided by it. It also assigns responsibility for the independent economic regulation of Irish Water to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) and Irish Water will be subject to the approval of the CER. The approach to charging will be outlined by Irish Water in a water charges plan to be submitted by it to the CER in line with the provisions of the Act. The CER will be responsible for approving the water charges plan which will set the approaches to charging customers for water services received. In advance of this decision the CER is carrying out a number of public consultations on the water charges plan. Currently, consultation is taking place on the approach to the design of domestic water tariffs for both metered and unmetered properties and the draft Irish Water customer handbook . Further consultations are planned for June in relation to other aspects of the water charges plan to be submitted to the CER by Irish Water. Full details of the CER’s public consultation plans are available on its website (www.cer.ie).
Where a household is connected to a public water supply but is not connected to a public sewer, the household will only pay for water supply and will not be liable for charges for waste water treatment. If a household is connected to the public sewer and not connected to the water supply, it will only be charged for wastewater collection. A combined charge, based on a water in/water out basis will apply to households receiving a public water supply and discharging waste water to the public sewer. The Government has announced its intention to provide operational subvention to Irish Water, conditional on the average charge for those households with water supply and waste water services not exceeding €240 per year.
The responsibilities of owners of properties connected to domestic waste water treatment systems to operate and maintain the systems correctly are set out in the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 and associated regulations, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas library. The Water Services Acts 2007 and 2012 (Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems) Regulations 2012 provide that septic tanks and similar systems should be de-sludged at intervals appropriate to the tank capacity and the number of persons resident in the premises connected to it. Servicing and de-sludging domestic waste water treatment system s are actions which owners should be carrying out as a matter of course to ensure that their systems are functioning properly and not causing a risk to human health or the environment. I have no plans to introduce a free de-sludging scheme.