John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I agree with the Deputy that it is very important to invest in good quality drinking water. I consider this as an absolute necessity. In a country such as ours there is no reason for people to be drinking contaminated water. While I accept there have been boil notices, I am pleased that there has been a reduction in the number of such notices. The EPA has identified 341 public water supplies that it has put on its remedial action list. These supplies require detailed profiling from catchment to consumer to determine whether the supply needs to be replaced or upgraded, or where operational practices need to be improved to ensure the water supplied to the general public is clean and wholesome.

That a water supply is on the list does not necessarily mean the water produced by the supply is unsafe to drink. Where a health-related parameter is exceeded, the EPA and the HSE must be notified and follow-up action must be taken. A water supply is included on the remedial action list for one or more of the following reasons: failure to meet the e.coli standard at some point in the past two years; inadequate treatment, for example no treatment other than chlorination, poor turbidity removal or excessive levels of aluminium in the treated water; showing elevated levels of nitrate; being unable to meet the new bromate or THL standards that came into force at the end of 2008; monitoring results or compliance checks by the EPA that indicate a lack of operational control at the treatment plant and the supplies identified by the Health Service Executive where improvements are required. This is the list on which we are working, and I consider it a priority list. We are doing everything we can in this regard.

The Deputy has stated that there was a slight shaving off. While that is true, the most important thing is that, despite very severe economic difficulties, we have increased the budget for water services infrastructure. That will remain the case because water quality is a priority. It is a priority for the people who need to drink water and use it. We also need to do this because we want to avoid fines. I believe the Deputy has raised this matter in committee meetings.

See this speech in context