Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 555: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if an assessment has been done to evaluate the efficiency of various waste water treatment plants throughout the country with particular reference to the need to identify potential sources of pollution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35570/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 556: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the action that should be taken or will be taken to address the issue of the pollution of water sources by overloaded or inadequate public waste water treatment systems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35571/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 557: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of incidents of pollution of water courses reported in the various local authority areas and deemed to have originated from public waste water treatment systems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35572/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 558: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the action he has taken to prevent a repeat of the pollution of Lough Corrib from a sewage treatment system at that and other locations throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35573/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 564: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government when he expects to make the financial allocation to the various local authorities throughout County Kildare to facilitate the expansion and upgrading of the overloaded or inadequate waste water treatment systems in the county; if he will set out the programme and timescale in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35580/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 565: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the urgent need for the upgrading of the waste water treatment systems in County Kildare in line with population requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35581/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 566: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the capability of the combined waste water treatment systems in County Kildare in terms of giving adequate service to the maximum number of households; his plans to increase this capacity in the short to medium term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35582/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 555 to 558, inclusive, and 564 to 566, inclusive, together.

The EPA's regular reports on Water Quality in Ireland present a review of water quality and suspected causes of pollution in various categories of water bodies. The EPA's reports on Urban Waste Water Discharges in Ireland provide an analysis of the treatment of waste water from all agglomerations with a population equivalent over 500. Both reports are available in the Oireachtas Library. My Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2007-2009, which I published in September 2007 and which is also available in the Oireachtas Library, sets out details of approved schemes for, inter alia, improving local authority waste water infrastructure, including such infrastructure in County Kildare. Each local authority was asked by my Department in 2006 to carry out detailed assessments of the need for capital water services infrastructure in their areas and to prioritise their proposals taking account, inter alia, of relevant reports and studies such as the National Urban Waste Water Study, Rural Water Strategies, County Sludge Management Plans and any similar studies/reports commissioned locally; relevant reports produced by the EPA, including Water Quality in Ireland and Urban Wastewater Discharges in Ireland; the requirements of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Regulations 2001, and, in particular, the requirement of Article 7 to provide "appropriate treatment" in the case of sub-threshold agglomerations; the adequacy of existing sewage collection networks and, in the case of anticipated development, the adequacy of the capacity of existing treatment plants; and national and EU environmental and public health requirements and standards. The priorities subsequently identified by Kildare and other local authorities were taken into consideration in the selection of schemes for inclusion in the 2007-2009 Investment Programme. In addition, my Department has allocated funds to Kildare and other County Councils for new public water services infrastructure under the Small Schemes Measure of the Rural Water Programme and details of activity under this measure may be obtained from relevant local authorities.