Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 1034: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of submissions he has received from Kildare County Council in view of recent concerns in regard to the quality of the domestic water supply for the upgrading of existing or provision of new waste water treatment facilities from the various local authorities throughout County Kildare in the past five years; the number of such instances in respect of which he has made a favourable response; the number outstanding; if his attention has been drawn to all such proposals; the number of plans or schemes, preliminary or otherwise, in respect of which he has provided funding in the five year period; the number outstanding; when he expects to meet the full requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15043/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 1037: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of the various local authorities here that have been in contact with his Department in the past five years setting out their concerns in respect of the need for the upgrading of existing sewerage treatment systems or the provision of new schemes, with a view to meeting population requirements and averting potential pollution threats to the waterways including the domestic water supply; if he responded conclusively and favourably in each case; the number of cases outstanding; if he has approved all such plans and provided the necessary funding to facilitate these requirements; if he will examine all such outstanding issues with a view to preventing a repetition of pollution of the domestic water supply such as has happened in County Galway; his proposals to prevent such recurrences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15046/07]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 1045: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of new and upgraded water treatment plants that have been approved by his Department over the past two years; the dates of same; the number of these approvals that have included equipment installation specifically designed to address the threat from cryptosporidium thereby ensuring a potable supply for all dependent consumers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15183/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1034, 1037 and 1045 together.

Water and waste water schemes currently approved for funding by my Department are set out in the Water Services Investment Programme 2005-2007 which is available in the Oireachtas Library. Schemes included in the Programme are derived from regular assessments of needs undertaken by local authorities, at my Department's request, as an input to the overall strategy for meeting water supply and treatment requirements. Local authorities were required by my Department to undertake such assessments in 2003 and again in 2006. In carrying out their assessments, authorities take into account a number of factors, including relevant national and EU environmental, public health and water quality statutory requirements and standards.

Explicit requirements in relation to monitoring of drinking water for clostridium perfringens — an indicator of possible contamination of the water by cryptosporidium — have been in force since end 2003 under the Drinking Water Regulations 2000. Prior to that, in 1998, my Department circulated detailed guidelines to local authorities on minimising the risk of cryptosporidium in water supplies. The guidelines were prepared in consultation with the Department of Health and Children and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and circulated to local authorities. The guidelines provided advice to local authorities on preventing cryptosporidium entering water supply systems and covered all aspects of water supply management, including source protection, monitoring, treatment processes, storage and distribution as well as responding to an outbreak.

In September 2004, the EPA produced a handbook for local authorities on implementation of the Drinking Water Regulations 2000. This updated and elaborated on the Department's earlier guidelines by including a cryptosporidium risk assessment methodology and further guidance on monitoring for cryptosporidium in light of the outcome of individual risk assessments. In November 2004, the National Disease Surveillance Centre (now the Health Protection Surveillance Centre) also published a report on waterborne cryptosporidiosis.

The EPA Handbook requested each authority to prepare risk assessments for each water source and supply, using the updated methodology. EPA has taken account of these risk factors in the recommendations that it addresses annually to local authorities for monitoring and improving drinking water quality. In some cases, the EPA recommendations may identify required improvement of infrastructure; in others, source protection and operational management may be the main issues. Earlier this month, the EPA asked all local authorities to update their risk assessments.

My Department's Water Services Investment Programme provides capital funding for improvements of the water infrastructure of local authorities. Identified deficiencies posing relatively greater risk to human health or the environment are prioritised in this context. The EPA has identified coagulation, followed by sedimentation and filtration, as one of the most effective processes for removing cryptosporidium from water supplies. This is now the normal form of treatment provided in all new or upgraded water treatment infrastructure for supplies sourced from surface waters which are the most vulnerable to infection by cryptosporidium.