Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I welcome the passage of this legislation but I would not let it pass without making a plea under a couple of different headings. I regret that the Bill does not emphasise water conservation adequately. We could change the building regulations to make low-flow taps a reality and harvest rainwater for domestic use. This could be done now but progress has not been made. I note with a raised eyebrow the proposals made by Fianna Fáil in its environmental policy. I wonder why so many of the measures have not been implemented.

I urge a note of caution about the emphasis on end of pipe solutions. Many other countries bend over backwards to protect their watersheds and to allow water to flow from the mountains to the cities with minimal treatment or no treatment. How can the city of New York provide much of its water with no treatment whatsoever? They have protected those watersheds from development for more than 100 years and provided national parks around the lakes upstate and allowed clean, clear water to flow through aqueducts straight to the city of New York.

I make a plea to the Minister in his last few hours or days of office to examine planning, forestry, farming and industry if he is returned as Minister. He should ensure our watersheds, watercourses, reservoirs, lakes and streams are better protected from pollution. There is an onus on us as consumers, farmers, foresters, industrialists and custodians of the land and waters we live on to protect the water. This does not mean banning development but ensuring that development does not take place in sensitive locations so that we do not end up with the appalling spectre of what happened in many counties, including Galway. Water is an elemental need and strikes a chord deep within us. There is so much we can do to protect our watercourses and I am concerned we are not doing enough to protect our water at source.

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