John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

That we have such a comprehensive report is testament to the fact that we have empowered the EPA to do excellent work. I commend the body on doing it. We have also given the EPA not just a 43% increase in its budget but 50 extra staff. If one looks at the newspapers, it is advertising for those staff now.

I always welcome comprehensive reports, warts and all. It is important we know the facts. The report shows continuing underlying progress from previous years in the compliance with the required chemical standards. For example, we know public water supplies affected by e.coli during 2006 came in at 8.3%, down from 9.7% in 2005 while private group water schemes came in at 35.8%, slightly down from 36.2% in 2005.

The Deputy mentioned the 339 public water supplies identified by the EPA and her question was what we are doing about them. Some 134 of these schemes require major capital investment and, of these, 130 are already approved for funding in the current water services investment programme. The other four schemes are being added to the programme. In some cases, advanced works to address some issues immediately are being considered.

In the remaining 205 schemes, the safety and security of supply issues can be addressed through better operational and management procedures or relatively small-scale improvements to the treatment processes. For example, these could include additional turbidity monitors, residual chlorine monitors and dial-out alarms, or a combination of all these.

My Department and the EPA will shortly complete an action programme setting out the appropriate solutions and timescale in each of the 339 cases. Any necessary infrastructural works will be fast-tracked and funded by my Department through a contingency funding arrangement within the water services and rural water programmes, as appropriate.

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