Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Seanad Éireann: recognises that clean water is a basic human right of every inhabitant of this country and acknowledges that access to clean water and sanitation is also a United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal that Ireland has signed up to, and the need to protect it from source to sea and everything along the way, rivers, lakes and groundwater;

notes the following commitments in the Programme for Government:

- to ensure the provision of safe drinking water and the proper treatment of wastewater will remain a priority for the Government;

- to refer the issue of the environment, including water, and its place in the Constitution, to a relevant Joint Oireachtas Committee for consideration;

- to retain Irish Water in public ownership as a national, stand-alone, regulated utility;

- to ensure Irish Water is sufficiently funded to make the necessary investment in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure;

- to mandate Irish Water to develop plans to ensure security of supply and sufficient capacity in drinking and wastewater networks to allow for balanced regional development;

- to fund Irish Water’s capital investment plan for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure on a multi-annual basis and deliver the €8.5 billion funding package committed to in ‘Project Ireland 2040’;

- to support the take-up of Irish Water’s Small Towns and Villages Growth Programme 2020-2024, which will provide water and wastewater growth capacity in smaller settlements that would otherwise not be provided for in Irish Water’s capital investment plan;

- to ensure that the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund supports the development of such projects;

- to support continued investment in reducing leakage across the network;

- to fully consider the review from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities to Irish Water’s proposed approach to the Water Supply Project for the Eastern and Midlands Region;

- to develop a scheme between local authorities and Irish Water to provide drinking water fountains nationwide to reduce plastic bottle litter, as modelled in Ennistymon, Co Clare;

- to continue to help fund upgrades to wells;

- to continue to help fund upgrades to domestic wastewater treatment systems, including septic tanks;

- to review and work to improve the inspection regime for the 500,000 domestic wastewater systems and incentivise upgrading works;

- to ensure that Irish Water progresses works to reduce the number of schemes on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Remedial Action List;

- to support Irish Water in its programme to remove lead pipes from the public supply;

- to ensure that the State complies with the EU Water Framework Directive which mandates a catchment-based approach to water resource management; Irish Water is mandated to implement this and must be sufficiently funded to do this;

- to expand programmes, including the Agriculture Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP), and work with farmers, industry, and advisory services, to protect and deliver improvements in water quality;

- to launch a new revised and strengthened River Basin Management Plan in 2022, drawing on a collaborative approach between all stakeholders;

- to ensure that Irish Water develops Drinking Water Safety Plans to protect abstraction sources and reduces public health risks, including Trihalomethane (THMs) exceedances in treatment plants;

- to continue to support the Local Authority Waters Programme and expand the Community Water Development Fund;

- to support the National Federation of Group Water Schemes, to ensure that issues of quality and security of supply are addressed;

- to continue to invest in a multi-annual capital funding programme to improve the quality of drinking water in group water schemes, while protecting water quality;

- to support the work of the Water Services Innovation Fund, which aims to investigate solutions for promoting greater efficiency in water usage;

- to continue to work with An Fóram Uisce to review and develop water quality strategies;

- to commission a range of research projects to explore innovative ways of improving our water infrastructure and reducing consumption;

- to reorient the agri-environment to deliver more, in the short-term on water quality through an ambitious ECO-scheme under Pillar 1 of the CAP, rewarding farmers who deliver enhanced environmental performance including improving water quality; the conclusion of the current CAP at the end of 2020 provides a significant opportunity to pilot this agri-environment scheme during the transition period, supported by additional exchequer funding; the scheme will seek to include farmers not currently in GLAS, who previously participated in AEOS, and those exiting GLAS; this pilot will inform the shape of the flagship agri-environment scheme for the next CAP;

- to ensure that Bord na Móna is required to take into account climate, biodiversity, and water objectives, as they deliver on their commercial mandate, through an amendment to the Turf Development Acts 1998;

notes with concern the following issues that need to be addressed:

- infrastructure deficits in Ireland impact on the provision of safe and secure drinking water;

- infrastructure deficits lead to pollution and environmental damage;

- infrastructure deficits present a challenge to achieving sustainable development across urban and rural Ireland;

- continued investment in infrastructure coupled with innovative and modern approaches is absolutely necessary and fast becoming an emergency, to ensure the supply of good quality drinking water and the appropriate treatment of wastewater to protect our waterways and our health;

-the EPA Wastewater Treatment Report 2019 which highlights:

- 19 large urban areas failed to meet mandatory EU standards; these 19 areas generate more than half of Ireland’s sewage;

- raw sewage from 35 towns and villages flows into our waters every day;

- delays and uncertainty in infrastructure delivery are prolonging risks to the environment and public health; Irish Water has no clear action programme or timeframe to improve treatment at almost half the areas (23 of 48) where wastewater is a significant threat to inland and coastal waters at risk of pollution;

- 113 priority areas where improvements are needed to prevent water pollution, eliminate discharges of raw sewage, meet EU treatment standards and protect bathing waters and freshwater pearl mussels;

- the EPA Water Quality in 2019 Indicators Report which states, in relation to:Rivers

- that nearly half (47%) of river sites have unsatisfactory nitrate concentrations. 44% of sites are showing an increasing nitrate trend for the period 2013-2019;

- that over one-third (34%) of sites have unsatisfactory phosphate concentrations; one- quarter (26%) of sites are showing an increasing phosphate trend for the period 2013-2019;

- 43% of river water bodies (1,002) are in moderate or worse quality;

Lakes

- 46% of lakes are in moderate or worse biological quality;

- over a quarter of lakes (27%) had unsatisfactory total phosphorus concentrations with 22% showing an increasing trend;

Estuaries and Coastal Waters

- over one-fifth (22%) of estuarine and coastal water bodies have unsatisfactory dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) concentrations; the highest DIN concentrations are in the south and southeast of the country;

- loads of total nitrogen and total phosphorus to the marine environment from our rivers have increased by 24% (13,559 tonnes) and 31% (338 tonnes) respectively since 2012-2014;

Groundwaters

- over one-fifth (22%) of sites have high (>25mg/l N03) nitrate concentrations and three sites exceed the drinking water standard (50 mg/l N03);

- almost half (49%) of all sites have increasing nitrate concentrations for the period 2013 -2019;

- 8% of sites have unsatisfactory phosphate concentrations;

- the EPA’s Integrated Assessment 2020 which notes:

- nutrient pollution (caused by too much nitrogen and phosphorus in our waters) is the key water quality issue impacting on our rivers, lakes and estuaries;

- that there is a need to use less nitrogen fertiliser and use it more efficiently, given that for example 367,364 tonnes of nitrogen fertiliser were applied in 2019;

- some agricultural activities pose a significant risk to drinking water sources through the storage and use of pesticides and through microbial contamination;

- that drinking water quality is lower in private supplies, that private supplies mostly serve rural areas, and it is estimated that up to 30% of private wells in operation in Ireland are contaminated with E. coli; this lower quality can be caused by septic tanks, landspreading of slurry, animals grazing near the wellhead, and chemical and fuel storage tanks; further notes: - all policies regarding water must work in tandem with policy on climate and biodiversity;

- regarding biodiversity, action must be consistent with policies on protection and restoration as outlined in the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as national and EU policy goals;

- regarding climate mitigation, the process of collecting, treating and supplying water and wastewater needs to decarbonise, including the climate cost of embodied carbon in new infrastructure;

- regarding climate adaptation, our water supply and wastewater treatment infrastructure must be protected from the effects of climate change; and calls on the Government to provide for the management, treatment and distribution of safe water through systems in public or community ownership, ensuring the protection and restoration of the ecological status of water bodies.”

It is a huge honour to bring this motion before the Seanad today. It calls on the House to recognise that clean water is a basic human right of every inhabitant of this country and to acknowledge that access to clean water and sanitation is also a UN sustainable development goal to which Ireland has signed up. We must protect it from source to sea and everything along the way, including rivers, lakes and groundwater.

I will now go through the commitments we made in the programme for Government, many of which were agreed following engagement with various NGOs. As per the motion, Seanad Éireann notes the commitment to ensure that the provision of safe drinking water and the proper treatment of wastewater will remain a priority for this Government and to refer its place in the Constitution to the relevant joint committee for consideration. The Government is committed to retaining Irish Water in public ownership as a national, stand-alone, regulated utility and to ensuring that Irish Water is sufficiently funded to make the necessary investment in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. This Government will mandate Irish Water to develop plans to ensure security of supply and sufficient capacity in drinking and wastewater networks to allow for balanced regional development and will fund Irish Water’s capital investment plan for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure on a multi-annual basis and deliver the €8.5 billion funding package committed to in Project Ireland 2040. The Government is committed to supporting the take-up of Irish Water’s small towns and villages growth programme 2020-2024, which will provide water and wastewater growth capacity in smaller settlements that would otherwise not be provided for in Irish Water’s capital investment plan and ensuring that the rural regeneration and development fund supports the development of such projects.

The programme for Government contains a commitment to support continued investment in reducing leakage across the network and to fully consider the review from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, of Irish Water’s proposed approach to the water supply project for the eastern and midlands regions. The Government is committed to developing a scheme between local authorities and Irish Water to provide drinking water fountains nationwide to reduce plastic bottle litter, as modelled in Ennistymon, County Clare. The Government will continue to help fund upgrades to wells and domestic wastewater treatment systems, including septic tanks. The programme for Government further commits to review and work to improve the inspection regime for 500,000 domestic wastewater systems and incentivise upgrading works and to ensure that Irish Water progresses works to reduce the number of schemes on the remedial action list of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. This Government is committed to supporting Irish Water in its programme to remove lead pipes from the public supply system. It is also committed to ensuring that the State complies with the EU water framework directive which mandates a catchment-based approach to water resource management. Irish Water is mandated to implement this and must be sufficiently funded to do so.

The programme for Government also contains commitments to expand programmes, including the agriculture sustainability support and advisory programme, ASSAP, and work with farmers, industry, and advisory services, to protect and deliver badly needed improvements in water quality. The Government will launch a new revised and strengthened river basin management plan in 2022, drawing on a collaborative approach between all stakeholders. The Government is committed to ensuring that Irish Water develops drinking water safety plans to protect abstraction sources and reduce public health risks. This Government will continue to support the local authorities' water programmes and expand the community water development fund. In this context, the Government is committed to supporting the National Federation of Group Water Schemes to ensure that issues of quality and security of supply are addressed and to continuing investment in a multi-annual capital funding programme to improve the quality of drinking water in group water schemes, while protecting water quality.

The Government will support the work of the water services innovation fund, which aims to investigate solutions for promoting greater efficiency in water usage and will continue to work with An Fóram Uisce to review and develop water quality strategies. The Government will commission a range of research projects to explore innovative ways of improving our water infrastructure and reducing consumption.The Government will reorient the agri-environment to deliver more in the short term on water quality through an ambitious eco scheme under pillar 1 of the CAP, rewarding farmers who deliver enhanced environmental performance, including improving water quality. The conclusion of the current CAP at the end of 2020 provides a significant opportunity to pilot this agri-environment scheme during the transition period, supported by additional Exchequer funding. The scheme will seek to include farmers not currently in the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, who previously participated in the agri-environment options scheme, AEOS, and those exiting GLAS. This pilot will inform the fate of the flagship agri-environment scheme for the next CAP. The Government will ensure that Bord na Móna is required to take into account climate, biodiversity and water objectives, as it delivers on its commercial mandate, through an amendment to the Turf Development Acts 1998.

In order for all of this great wish list which we have in the programme for Government to be implemented, it is vital that we do the following: infrastructure deficits in Ireland impact on the provision of safe and secure drinking water and this is why infrastructure investment is so important; infrastructure deficits lead to pollution and environmental damage; infrastructure deficits present a challenge to achieving sustainable development across urban and rural Ireland; continued investment in infrastructure coupled with innovative and modern approaches is absolutely necessary and fast becoming an emergency. The EPA Wastewater Treatment Report 2019 highlighted many issues including that 19 large urban areas failed to meet mandatory EU standards. These 19 areas generate more than half of Ireland’s sewage. Raw sewage from 35 towns and villages flows into our waters every day.

I ask that the House support this motion and that we work together as a whole House because water is life; it affects everybody, no matter what party they are in, if any. I look forward to the House supporting this motion today.