Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Section 49 refers to the discharge of sewage and waste from vessels. The sewage from vessels causes far fewer problems than their waste water. Vessels on the Shannon, or any of our inland waterways, should be required to use eco-friendly washing powders, washing-up liquids and soap. This would have a greater positive impact on the water than an improvement in sewage disposal. Sewage does not cause a significant problem in small quantities. In order for this to happen, however, eco-friendly products must be available. I recently investigated the availability of these products in small shops and supermarkets by the Shannon, and few stocked them. It would be easy to introduce a regulation on this matter. It would be welcomed and would do much good.

The Minister has included in section 49 a requirement for a map of works. This is long overdue. The difficulty is that we do not have a map of what is there at the moment. While doing research in the area of water pollution some months ago I spoke to some senior people in two of the large privatised water companies in the UK. When the question of sewerage systems and water mains came up, one person said the situation was appalling. He said he sometimes spent his weekends going from one old people's home to another seeking out retired county engineers, going down on his knees and pleading with them to try to remember the location of a water main between two towns. I am not making this up. The water companies know the location of the main pipes but not the smaller ones and there is huge wastage of water.

I am sure the Minister mentioned this problem in his speech, but I considered recently the amount of water seeping through the system. The system needs replacement. What would it cost to replace the network of pipes? It is akin to asking the length of a piece of string, but in general terms, how much would it take to replace the network infrastructure of water distribution around the country? This must be an important issue.