Ms Mary Gurrie:

We know there has been underinvestment in wastewater treatment plants for decades. That is the reality. We should have complied with the directive on wastewater treatment by 2015, I think. We are nowhere near it. The EPA's approach is to have a priority list based on criteria; raw sewage has to be eliminated. Some 200 water bodies are impacting directly on water quality and the European court has taken an infringement case on compliance with the urban wastewater treatment plant directive. There are 1,000 plants, a lot of which need work. I cannot speak to the specifics of the prioritisation process, as Dr. Cotter said, but a huge amount of work needs to be done on upgrading the wastewater treatment plant infrastructure. The EPA has a prioritised approach based on the environmental impact.