Brendan Kenneally (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Question 495: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has received any report from the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the quality of bathing water in respect of County Waterford for 2009; the content of any such report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29440/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The EPA published its' report on The Quality of Bathing Water in Ireland 2009 in early June 2010. The report found that 93% of the 131 bathing areas nationwide complied with EU mandatory standards.

In relation to the 6 designated beaches in the Waterford area the report found that:

3 beaches complied with the higher EU guide standard (Bonmahon, Clonea and Tramore);

2 beaches complied with the mandatory EU bathing water quality standard (Ardmore and Counsellors' Strand, Dunmore East);

1 beach failed to comply with the mandatory EU bathing water quality standard (Dunmore Strand, Dunmore).

My Department's recently published Water Services Investment Programme 2010 – 2012 provides for a Waterford Grouped Towns and Villages Sewerage Scheme, which includes Dunmore East, and which is due to start construction within the period covered by the Investment Programme. Implementation of this measure should assist in improving the water quality at the bathing site in Dunmore East.