Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 580: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his Department have sanctioned new waste water treatment systems for rural once off houses in the countryside where ground conditions are unsuitable for standard accepted septic tanks or raised percolation systems. [32156/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I have no function with regard to the approval of particular waste water treatment systems for individual houses in any ground conditions. The suitability or otherwise of any particular system in any particular circumstances is a matter for the relevant local planning authority.

With regard to general standards for waste water treatment systems, clear and comprehensive best practice guidance in regard to Groundwater Protection and the Planning System was issued to all planning authorities by my Department in July 2003. The Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines for Planning Authorities, which issued in April 2005, emphasised the need for adherence to best practice in order to protect water quality. These guidelines were issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 which requires planning authorities to have regard to such guidelines in the performance of their functions.

Septic tanks installed on or after 1 June 1992 must comply with Part H of the Building Regulations which requires septic tanks to be so sited and constructed that they do not pollute, so as to endanger public health, any water (including groundwater) which is used as a source of supply for human consumption. The related Technical Guidance Document H provides guidance on how to comply with Part H. Guidance on septic tank drainage systems for single houses is contained in Irish Standard Recommendations S.R. 6: 1991 for Domestic Effluent Treatment and Disposal from Single Dwellings issued by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI). For septic tanks serving groups of houses, British Standard B.S. 6297: 1983, a Code of Practice for the Design and Installation of Small Sewage Treatment Works, issued by the British Standards Institute applies.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently developing a comprehensive Code of Practice on Waste Water Treatment Systems for Single Houses. The EPA intends to publish the Code of Practice under section 76 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992, and this code will then be cited in the Annex to Technical Guidance Document H of the Building Regulations which is to be revised next year.