Dr. Tom Ryan:

I thank the committee for inviting the Environmental Protection Agency to assist in the detailed scrutiny of the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018. I am joined by my colleagues from the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement, OEE, Mr. Darragh Page and Mr. Noel Byrne.

As the committee will be aware, the EPA is an independent statutory body established under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992. Our organisational vision is to protect and improve the environment as a valuable asset for the people of Ireland, and also to protect our people and the environment from the harmful effects of radiation and pollution. To that end, the EPA performs a number of functions that are particularly pertinent to the current discussions, including monitoring the quality of the Irish environment, in particular the quality of our water courses. We are responsible for the development of the national inspection plan for domestic wastewater treatment systems, and the co-ordination and reporting on the implementation of that plan. We develop and maintain a code of practice on wastewater treatment and disposal systems serving single houses, as mentioned by previous speakers.

With regard to water quality, I would highlight a number of troubling findings in recent EPA reports that are relevant to our discussions. Water quality in Irish waters has deteriorated, with a net overall decline of 3% in good water quality between 2015 and 2017. Long-term loss of high-quality river sites is continuing, with a further 0.6% decline since 2015. The EPA groundwater national monitoring programme found that 43% of groundwater monitoring wells were contaminated with faecal coliforms in 2017. These findings illustrate the vulnerability of our ground waters, which provide much of our drinking water in rural Ireland, as well as the vulnerability of our surface waters, where we are failing to arrest the continued decline in quality. These are priority, shared challenges in terms of human health protection and environmental protection.

The Water Services Act 2007, as amended, and associated regulations, among other things, provide for inspections of domestic wastewater treatment systems by water services authorities. The EPA is responsible for preparing the national inspection plan, which specifies the minimum number of inspections across the country for each local authority area. Inspections target areas where there is the greatest potential for improving water quality and improving the protection of human health. The EPA reports regularly on the implementation of the plan and the report for the 2017-18 period, due for publication shortly, will show the following: almost half of the domestic wastewater treatment systems inspected in the reporting period failed the inspection, which is consistent with previous years and shows persistent problems with existing systems; failures are due to system construction defects and systems not being maintained and cleaned properly; over one quarter of systems were found to be causing a risk to the environment or human health; and almost one third of systems that failed during the 2013-18 period are still not fixed, with many of those unresolved for more than one year.

Domestic wastewater treatment systems are a risk to human health and the environment if they are not constructed and maintained properly. They can contaminate a householder’s drinking water well or their neighbour’s well. In this context, it should be noted that Ireland has the highest rate of VTEC infection in the EU, with over 1,100 cases in 2018. One possible source of this infection is contaminated drinking water from private wells.

The EPA published the code of practice on wastewater treatment and disposal systems serving single houses in 2009. The code is referenced throughout technical guidance document H on drainage and wastewater disposal developed under the building regulations. The purpose of the code is to ensure that domestic wastewater treatment systems are constructed and maintained properly so they do not contaminate groundwater and surface waters and endanger people’s health. Essentially, the code sets out how to determine if a site is suitable for the installation of a treatment system and the standards necessary for the construction and maintenance of the system, providing several construction options, depending on the site constraints and householder requirements.

The current code was published over a decade ago and the EPA is cognisant of the importance of ensuring that national guidelines reflect available and emerging technologies and techniques. To that end, research funded by the EPA was recently conducted through a collaboration between researchers at Trinity College Dublin, National University of Ireland Galway and National University of Ireland Maynooth to examine further domestic wastewater treatment options in areas of low permeability soils. This research identified two new technologies - low pressure pipe and drip dispersal systems - which can operate in low permeability soils, increasing the percolation limits and, hence, providing greater flexibility for householders and planners.

These new technologies and the associated increase in the percolation limits are incorporated in the draft revised code which was published in December 2018 for three months of consultation. During the consultation period, 36 submissions were received, including almost 500 individual comments on the code. The code revision process is being overseen by a steering committee which is currently considering the submissions, with a view to finalising the revised code by end of the year. The steering committee is comprised of representatives of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and local authorities, as well as industry and the research community.

The code of practice represents the best available technical and scientific knowledge for domestic wastewater treatment systems. For homeowners, it provides the assurance of having their site assessed to a proper standard and that the system chosen will operate satisfactorily in the long term, protecting their health, the health of their neighbours and the environment. I assure the committee that the EPA will continue to work closely with local authorities, Departments and others to assist in the assessment of possible solutions and strategies in this area, and to support further research where that is identified, with the primary objective of ensuring the protection of people's health and the environment.