Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The urban waste water treatment directive mandates the required standards for the collection and treatment of wastewater from urban areas of greater than 2,000 population equivalent. The directive dates from 1991, with the last implementation deadline in the directive being 31 December 2005. By this date, collection systems should have been in place and secondary treatment of wastewater should have been provided for all agglomerations with a population equivalent of over 2,000 people, where the treated wastewater is discharged to rivers, lakes or estuaries. As such, the issue of compliance with the requirements of the urban waste water treatment directive in Ireland is a long-standing problem.

The European Commission commenced an infringement process against Ireland regarding its implementation of the directive in September 2013. This was followed by a supplementary letter of formal notice in September 2015. A reasoned opinion was then sent by the European Commission in September 2016, with the case being referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union in February 2017. The supplementary letter of formal notice of September 2015 identified compliance concerns regarding a total of 82 agglomerations. However, communications with the European Commission as part of the infringement process have satisfied the Commission that 44 of those 82 agglomerations should be removed from the case. While this indicates the progress being made, 38 agglomerations remain of concern to the European Commission. Irish Water will continue to prioritise key projects in their capital investment plans to address the issues of non-compliance in the outstanding areas.

To address all these concerns, in the various plans, would cost roughly €1.7 billion.

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