John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

Overall, water quality in Ireland is of good standard relative to other European countries. The recent EPA water quality report for 2004-06 found a slight improvement overall in water quality, particularly in surface waters with an increase, for example, from 69.2% to 71.4% in the length of our rivers that are unpolluted compared to the 2001-03 period. However, deterioration of ground water quality has been identified as a major cause of concern.

The Government is committed to the protection and improvement of our water resources. To reduce any threat from municipal waste water treatment, I secured a record budget of €560 million for better water services infrastructure in 2009. This is the highest ever provision and an increase of 19% over 2008. New regulatory and supervisory structures for water services have also been put in place, including provision for the licensing of municipal waste water discharges and the allocation of additional financial and staffing resources to the EPA to support its monitoring and oversight role in this area.

The nitrates action programme is one of the key measures to address the threat to our waters from agricultural run-off and the programme provides a basis for the reduction of both nitrate and phosphate losses from farms.

Groundwater is a valuable resource and I will be bringing forward regulations shortly to transpose the EU directive on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration. Work on regulations establishing quality standards for surface waters is also well advanced and will be completed before the end of the year.

Measures to improve water quality are being taken forward through the mechanism of the EU water framework directive. Comprehensive catchment management plans are currently being developed on a river basin district basis. These will include detailed programmes of measures to achieve the objectives of the directive. The draft plans will be published for consultation in December and adopted by the relevant local authorities by the end of 2009.

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