Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 requires householders whose properties are served by on-site wastewater treatment systems to register their system with their local authority. The deadline for householders to register was 1 February. At the passing of that deadline, 373,954 applications in respect of the on-site wastewater treatment systems by owners who registered online, by post or in person at their local authority offices had been processed and approximately 25,000 additional registration applications were awaiting processing by the bureau operated by the Local Government Management Agency. The table below sets out details of the number of processed registrations for each county and city council by 1 February 2013.

My Department will in the coming weeks discuss with the local authorities the approach to be taken in respect of unregistered systems. The Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 provides that the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, will make a national inspection plan for domestic wastewater treatment systems. I expect that the plan will be published shortly and that inspections will commence in the middle of this year.

Registrations processed as of 4 February 2013

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