Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I draw the attention of the Minister of State to the most recent Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, report on waste water discharges highlighting non-compliance in many waste water treatment plants and their impact on receiving waters. It is a disgrace that in 2020 a total of 35 towns and villages are discharging raw sewage into nearby watercourses. It is equally disappointing that so many plants are failing to meet EU pollution standards.

I welcome the opportunity to raise this serious matter. It is a long-running and extremely worrying situation that we see every year when the EPA produces its report. We see similar annual reports on water quality from the EPA and we are all aware of the degradation of aquatic ecosystems, the loss of biodiversity and the overall decrease in water quality scores. We are failing to meet a commitment under the water framework directive to achieve good status for our water bodies. The main impacts on our water system are from diffuse agricultural run-off and point source waste water treatment plants. It is well researched and well reported. There are also issues with combined sewer overflows in the urban networks and unauthorised tappings into urban surface water drainage networks. Forestry practice in many locations is contributing to acidification of water. The presence of excessive organic matter is creating trihalomethanes in our drinking water supplies. There are also cases of excessive nitrates in our water. Both of these chemical imbalances have serious impacts on human health, the latter of which is particularly harmful to infants. There are issues with the management of septic tanks and their impact on groundwater.

Many of the locations with poorly performing waste water plants have been subject to development growth, but our water services upgrades do not keep pace with that development. This is the fallout from poor planning and urban sprawl. All of this points to decades of underinvestment in the water network, some of which dates back to Victorian installations. I have followed the water services investment programmes over the years and no Government has ever shown sufficient attention or committed to providing adequate investment to maintain and improve the water network to the levels required. We have been careless with our precious, finite and life-supporting resource.

As water quality and our sources of supply decline and degrade, our health, biodiversity and environment suffer, as do investment in our economy and our international tourism reputation. This Government needs to be the one to halt the decline and address the infrastructural deficit to provide clean and reliable drinking water supplies. When that water is abstracted and used for domestic, business or industrial purposes, it needs to be treated to a very high degree before being discharged into the receiving waters. Last week's report shows that the treatment process is substandard in many places.

The EPA report also covers areas where Irish Water has made improvements, which is to be welcomed. In Wicklow, Irish Water recently carried out a major upgrade to the Victorian Vartry water supply at Roundwood, which is vital to Dublin and north Wicklow supplies. I understand that the construction of the Arklow waste water treatment plant is soon to commence following the granting of the foreshore licence.

I ask the Minister of State to outline the level of investment required to allow Irish Water to get these 35 towns to meet tertiary treatment or adequate treatment standards and the estimated timeframe to construct or upgrade at these locations.

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