Ireland will not be able to meet the terms of the new EU regulations on drinking-water quality when they come into force on January 1st next, the Minister for the Environment has conceded.
Referring to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) latest report showing high levels of contamination, particularly in private water schemes, Mr Cullen said major progress would be made this year, though not enough to meet the deadline.
"I said last year that this problem would be solved on my watch, and it will," he told The Irish Times yesterday. "There is no shortage of money, with 1650 million allocated for water services under National Development Plan. The problem is one of logistics.
"With 500 schemes serving rural areas, there were not enough contractors available to carry out the upgrading work required to bring them up to
standard. However, he expected that 200 of them would be subject of DBO (design, build operate) contracts this year in operation with the
National Federation of Group Water Schemes, and a further 180 would taken over by local authorities.
Mr Cullen said he would also bring forward a water services Bill later this year to "tighten things up". This would give local authorities the power to upgrade privately-owned schemes which currently to meet quality standards.
The Labour Party's environment spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore, described the EPA's findings as "truly alarming" and said it was "a shameful
national failure that . . . we are still not able to provide safe drinking water for all our people."
Referring to the faecal contamination found in both public and private drinking water supplies, he warned that this would contribute a growing
level of gastroenteritis. "Unless action is taken, there is a real danger that people may die," he said.
The Green Party's environment spokesman, Mr Ciarán Cuffe, called for greater regulation of water-supply schemes in the light of the EPA report.
"We are calling for a licensing system to be brought forward to ensure a level of quality control over these schemes," he said.
Friends of the Irish Environment said it was "fundamentally misguided to allocate massive funding for 'end-of-pipe' solutions based on high-cost engineering" when the EU Nitrates Directive was unenforced and septic tanks proliferated.
Claiming that farmers rarely respect water sources, the group said pathogens carried by livestock must be prevented from entering streams, lakes and springs by imposing a cordon sanitaire around all drinking-water sources.
It said this was especially important as a European Court judgment against Ireland last November required the Government to implement new legislation creating legal liability for the supply of water to group water schemes.
"This judgment conclusively ended the Government's continued attempt to plead exemption from the EU directive for the 145,000 rural houses with group water on historical and cultural grounds to justify supplying water
unfit for consumption," it said.
"The argument that Ireland has taken steps to improve the quality of its water intended for human consumption cannot be accepted," the court
concluded. Failure to comply to the terms of the judgment will result in daily fines against Ireland.
