Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 658: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the procedures in place in Mayo to handle a cryptosporidium outbreak in the water sources; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12478/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Contamination of drinking water by cryptosporidium is an ongoing risk in relation to which water authorities in Ireland and other countries must exercise constant precaution and vigilance. Management of public drinking water supplies is the responsibility of the relevant local authority and information on the specific procedures put in place by Mayo County Council to safeguard against cryptosporidium in their water supplies would be available from the Council.

In 1998, my Department published detailed guidelines for local authorities on Minimising the Risk of Cryptosporidium in Water Supplies. These guidelines were prepared in consultation with the Department of Health and Children and the Environmental Protection Agency to provide clear advice to local authorities on preventing cryptosporidium getting into water supply systems. The guidelines cover all aspects of water supply management, including source protection, monitoring, treatment processes, storage and distribution as well as responding to an outbreak.

In November 2004, the National Disease Surveillance Centre published a report on waterborne cryptosporidiosis. This was circulated to all local authorities by the EPA with the request that they update their risk assessments based on the revised methodology of the report. Almost 400 such updated risk assessments were carried out by local authorities in response to this request.

Explicit requirements in relation to monitoring of drinking water for clostridium perfringens — an indicator of possible contamination of the water by cryptosporidium — are now set out in the European Communities (Drinking Water) Regulations 2007. My Department's Water Services Investment Programme provides full capital funding for improvements of the water infrastructure of local authorities. Identified deficiencies posing relatively greater risk to human health or the environment would be prioritised in this context.