Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 144: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he has taken to enable local authorities to ensure the adequate protection of drinking water standards in view of the concerns raised by the EPA regarding the quality of drinking water (details supplied), since the production of the same report by the EPA for 2003; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7473/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 121, 144 and 201 together.

Recent annual reports by the Environmental Protection Agency on the quality of drinking water in Ireland indicate a sustained increase in the overall rate of compliance with all prescribed standards, from 96.1% in 2003 to 96.4% in 2004, and up to 96.7% in its most recently published report for 2005. Notwithstanding high overall compliance rates, the reports nevertheless, have drawn attention to water quality problems in certain private group water schemes in particular, and to the shortfall in the levels of monitoring by local authorities of water supplies, particularly in these group schemes.

Statutory controls are being strengthened to underpin comprehensive supervision and monitoring regimes for both local authority and group water scheme supplies. The Water Services Bill 2003, which is currently awaiting Dail Report Stage, provides for the introduction of a licensing system for group water scheme supplies, under local authority supervision. The Bill also provides for the amendment of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 to provide for supervision of local authority water supplies by the Agency. In each case, the relevant supervisory authority will have new powers of direct intervention, if required, to ensure that measures are taken to achieve compliance with prescribed water quality standards.

As an interim measure, pending the introduction and implementation of the new arrangements provided for under the Water Services Bill, I propose to make amending Regulations to strengthen the existing Drinking Water Regulations. These will provide for supervision by the Agency of local authorities' functions in relation to monitoring and management of drinking water generally.

I envisage that these provisions will strengthen considerably the level of monitoring and enforcement in relation to drinking water supplies, and will ensure adequacy and consistency in monitoring performance in drinking water supplies throughout the State.

The Government continues to invest very considerable resources in water services infrastructure, with some €4.7 billion provided under the new National Development Plan (2007 to 2013), in addition to the unprecedented investment of €3.7 billion in infrastructure already put in place under the previous Plan. Significant increases in water treatment capacity and improvements in distribution systems will be achieved as a result. Water supply schemes completed in the period 1997 to 2006 have already produced additional drinking water treatment capacity equivalent to the needs of a population of some 1.2 million.

Substantially increased sums have been invested in resolving group scheme difficulties in meeting drinking water standards. Some €130 million was invested in the Rural Water Programme in 2006 — twice what was spent in 2002, and three times more than the corresponding expenditure in 2000.

A comprehensive overhaul of sewage collection and treatment infrastructure has also been undertaken nationally to tackle pollution of surface and ground water from which water supplies are abstracted, and the capacity of Ireland's wastewater treatment infrastructure was increased by a population equivalent of 3.1m under the last National Development Plan.