Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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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.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for bringing this important issue to the attention of the House.

I welcome the comprehensive report from the EPA showing that, while many serious challenges remain, Irish Water is continuing to make progress and is improving the performance of our waste water systems. The Deputy will appreciate that, since 2014, Irish Water has taken on the full statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level. In turn, the EPA, as environmental regulator, is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with the necessary quality standards for the collection and treatment of waste water discharges. Today’s report shows that Irish Water has reduced the number of priority waste water sites listed by the EPA. It has increased the number of large towns and cities that now meet the required EU standards for waste water discharges, and it continues to reduce the number of towns and villages discharging untreated waste water.

The EPA appreciates and acknowledges the long and complex programme of work that lies ahead for Irish Water. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, and I, like the EPA, are eager to see faster progress on the delivery of each of these projects wherever this is feasible. The Minister spoke to officials from Irish Water following publication of the EPA report. The company has quite serious challenges, and while we all know that it will not be possible to fix all our infrastructural deficits overnight, this work requires very significant and sustained capital investment. These are complex projects and must be carefully planned in consultation with communities as well as designed to meet future needs.

The programme for Government includes firm commitments that will ensure Irish Water is funded and is structured to fully meet this challenge.

The Government is supporting Irish Water through delivering the balance of the €8.5 billion funding package committed to in Project Ireland 2040. As part of budget 2021 we increased provision for the Irish Water capital programme by €100 million over this year's initial allocation, from €592 million to €692 million. The Government also provided an additional €87 million in capital funding to Irish Water this year as part of the July stimulus package and the budget.

The discharging of untreated sewage directly to the environment is clearly not a tenable situation and is one that I earnestly wish see addressed as soon as possible. When Irish Water was established in 2014, it inherited a system in need of very significant improvement. The company has set about this task but was possibly overly ambitious in some of its plans. However, the company has halted the discharge of raw sewage from the equivalent of 100,000 people in 15 towns across Ireland, removing half of all the raw sewage discharged. Over half of the remaining discharge will end with the completion of the Cork lower harbour project and the construction of the Arklow waste water treatment plant. The company expects to start work in 2021 on 12 further areas where raw sewage is being discharged, with the work in the majority of the remaining areas due to start in 2022 and 2023. A new treatment plant for Avoca is being designed at present, with a planned construction start date of 2023 and a completion date of 2024. The current estimated cost is €8.5 million.

As the Deputy will know, the provision of a sewage treatment plant for Arklow has a long and complex planning history going back as far as 1988. It is one of the largest areas left without a treatment plant, with a population equivalent of 36,000 people. A site has now been secured and planning permission has been granted. I understand a contractor has been selected and construction is due to start in 2021. Irish Water has informed the Department that the construction will take three years.

I note comments on the EPA report from the Sustainable Water Network concerning our commitments under the EU water framework directive. I also note that Coastwatch Ireland is calling for a ban on wet wipes because of their impact on our storm water overflow discharges. This is something the Government should seriously consider. In terms of waste water treatment generally, we are making significant progress although that progress cannot come fast enough.

Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. I acknowledge that Irish Water has been making progress and that it inherited a system that was not invested in for many years because investing in waste water treatment plants, or pipes in the ground, was not headline grabbing. We have neglected a very precious resource and the result of that neglect is that we have been discharging substandard water into our watercourses, our rivers and the marine environment for many years.

I welcome the programme for Government's commitment to retaining Irish Water in public ownership as a national, stand-alone, regulated utility. The Government has also committed to ensuring that Irish Water is sufficiently funded to make the necessary investment in drinking and waste water infrastructure. The programme also mandates Irish Water to develop plans to ensure security of supply and sufficient capacity in drinking and waste water networks to allow for balanced regional development. We must ensure that we match those commitments with adequate funding. It is important to recognise that the treatment of both drinking and waste water is expensive and complex. It requires investment and constant maintenance and our health and the health of our country is at stake if we do not adequately fund the commitments made in the programme for Government.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank Deputy Matthews for making those very important points about Irish Water and the capital investment programme required. It will take a nationwide approach to prioritising planning and investment. The company has developed a long-term investment perspective in order to address the deficiencies in public water and waste water systems. The company is closely regulated by both the EPA and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. I noted the Deputy's comments in the Wicklow Timestoday. He referred to our commitments under the water framework directive, marine protected areas and biodiversity, all of which are interrelated. I also note that the Avoca waste water treatment plant was raised by a former Green Party councillor, Ms Nancy Quinn, as far back as 1988, which is astonishing. That plant is finally being delivered and while it is very late in the day, it is happening now which is most welcome.

The task here is enormous. As the Deputy quite rightly pointed out, we have not seen significant investment in this area for decades because these are not projects that many people perceive as necessary but they absolutely are. I reiterate the Government's commitment to ensuring that Irish Water is tasked with and supported in continuing to work to address infrastructural deficits all over the country to bring our water and waste water infrastructure up to modern European standards and make it fit for purpose for the Irish economy and country.