Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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236. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that chromium 6 is possibly being discharged into the River Barrow in the Athy area. [42652/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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No issues regarding Chromium VI discharges to the River Barrow have been brought to my attention.

Chromium VI and Chromium III are listed as specific substances in the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Surface Waters) Regulations 2009. These Regulations contain Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for substances discharged to waters. In accordance with these Regulations, monitoring of Irish surface waters is undertaken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by local authorities. Heavy metals, including total chromium in all its forms, are monitored in rivers on a monthly basis including at a number of sites on the River Barrow.

I am informed by the EPA that the mean total chromium concentration for the Barrow (2010-2014) is ca. 2.5 µg/l which is around half of the EQS for chromium as set out in the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Surface Waters) Regulations 2009. This concentration is well below the threshold at which further analysis for the various forms of chromium is required.