Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 572: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will provide adequate resources to Limerick County Council to complete water testing of 39 group water schemes which were not carried out by the council because of a lack of resources and lack of staff due to the Government embargo. [3515/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Minimum frequencies for the monitoring of water supplies are set out in the European Communities (Drinking Water) Regulations 2000. These Regulations transpose the provisions of EU Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption. Under the Regulations sanitary authorities are responsible for the monitoring of drinking water supplies. Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, it is a matter of the manager of each local authority to make such staffing and organisational arrangements as may be necessary for the purposes of carrying out the functions of the local authorities for which he/she is responsible.

The recently published EPA report on Drinking Water Quality in Ireland 2005 indicates that there was insufficient monitoring of water supplies by certain sanitary authorities in 2005. In the case of Limerick County Council the report states, inter alia, that there was no monitoring carried out in 28 public group water schemes and 11 private group water schemes.

The funding provided to local authorities through general purpose grants from the Local Government Fund has greatly increased in recent years. The 2007 general purpose grant I have allocated to Limerick County Council is some €26.1m, an increase of 8% on the corresponding amount provided to the Council in 2006.

It should be a priority for all local authorities to meet their statutory obligations in an area as important as the quality of public water supplies. I propose, therefore, to strengthen the statutory controls to underpin comprehensive supervision and monitoring regimes for both local authority and group water scheme supplies. The Water Services Bill will introduce a licensing system for group water scheme supplies, under local authority supervision. The Bill will also amend the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 to provide for supervision of local authority supplies by the EPA.

As an interim measure, I intend to strengthen the European Communities (Drinking Water) Regulations, pending the introduction and implementation of the planned new arrangements under the Water Services Bill. Revised Drinking Water Regulations, which I propose to make in the coming weeks will provide for supervision of local authority supplies by the EPA. Local authorities will continue to be responsible for supervising group scheme supplies, but all monitoring programmes will in future be subject to approval by the EPA. The EPA will in turn be required to supervise the performance by local authorities of their monitoring functions. These provisions will considerably strengthen the level of monitoring and enforcement in relation to drinking water supplies, and should ensure adequacy and consistency in monitoring performance across the country.