Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I will reply on behalf of my colleague, Deputy John Gormley, Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The compliance of water supplies and waste water discharges with regulatory requirements is a matter of the utmost concern and I thank the Senator for raising this important subject. We have been addressing deficits in the water sector through a combination of investment, legislative reform and stronger monitoring and enforcement in recent years. The priority attached by the Government to investment in water services is reflected in funding of €500 million for investment in water services this year.

As the Senator will probably be aware, the operation and management of public water services is the responsibility of city and county councils. These councils carry out their water services functions under the general supervision and guidance of the Environmental Protection Agency. As part of the agency's remit, it regularly publishes reports on the provision and quality of drinking water and the discharge of urban waste water. The most recent, and relevant, reports on these topics are The Provision and Quality of Drinking Water In Ireland - A Report for the Years 2007 - 2008 and Urban Waste Water Discharges in Ireland for Population Equivalents Greater than 500 Persons - A Report for the Years 2006 - 2007. Copies of both of these reports are available in the Oireachtas Library.

With regard to drinking water, the EPA's report demonstrates that the overall quality of our water is good and that further progress has been made in improving water quality in recent years. The report indicates that the overall compliance in County Donegal was 95.3% in 2007 which was a slight improvement on the position in 2006. A number of public water supplies in County Donegal were included on a remedial action list, which was first prepared by the EPA in 2008. Inclusion on this list means the scheme requires detailed profiling from catchment to consumer to determine whether the supply needs to be replaced or upgraded, or operational practices improved to ensure the water supplied to the general public is clean and wholesome. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the EPA have put in place quarterly monitoring arrangements to track progress on the implementation of remedial actions on the supplies on the list. The latest available list includes 23 supplies in County Donegal that require some form of remediation. I will make a list of these supplies available to the Senator and it will be recorded at the end of this reply.

In overall terms, some of the supplies on the remedial action list are already included for upgrades under the Water Services Investment Programme 2007-2009. In other cases, the issues can be addressed through operational improvements or minor improvements works. Special funding has been provided in both 2008 and 2009 for such minor improvement works. The total funding amounts to almost €18 million, of which €1.2 million was allocated to County Donegal.

Turning to waste water, since 2000 Exchequer investment of €2.5 billion on major schemes has resulted in an increase in waste water treatment capacity equivalent to the needs of a population of 3.6 million. Compliance with the requirements of the EU urban waste water treatment directive relating to secondary waste water treatment facilities now stands at some 92%, compared to 25% at the start of 2000. A number of the larger urban locations highlighted in the report as being non-compliant in 2006 and 2007 now have treatment plants in place, for example, in Donegal town and Ballyshannon. The remaining schemes in County Donegal that the EPA lists as requiring secondary treatment, in Dungloe, Falcarragh, Moville and Killybegs, are included for planning in the Water Services Investment Programme 2007-2009.

Over the past few months local authorities have been preparing an assessment of needs for both water and sewerage services. These assessments, due for return to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government this week, will form a key input to the development of the 2010 to 2012 water services investment programme. In conducting their assessments, local authorities have been asked to prioritise schemes and contracts for progression over the coming years based on key environmental and economic criteria.

The County Donegal remedial action list schemes are: Ballintra, Ballyshannon, Burnfoot, Carrick - Teelin, Carrigar - Downings, Cashilard, Creeslough, Fanad West - Tullyconnel, Presses - Inver, Glenties - Ardara, Gortahork - Falcarragh, Greencastle, Inishowen west, Killybegs, Letterkenny, Lifford (old), Lough Mourne, Malinmore, Pettigo, Portnoo - Nairn, Rathmullen, Rosbeg, Rosses regional.