Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 270: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government further to an outbreak of cryptosporidium in the water supply from Lough Owel at Mullingar, County Westmeath a few years ago, the grant aid allocated by his Department to Westmeath County Council to sustain an appropriate filtration and treatment facility for the water supply at this location; the time frame from the outbreak to the commissioning of this treatment plant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11956/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Mullingar Regional Water Supply (Treatment) Scheme, which involved the construction of a new water treatment plant at the Lough Owel source, had been approved for funding under my Department's Water Services Investment Programme and was being advanced through planning by Westmeath County Council when the cryptosporidium outbreak occurred in May 2002. The new treatment plant became operational in September 2003 and was fully commissioned in 2005. Grants amounting to some €9.1 million have been recouped by my Department to the Council in respect of the scheme.