Wet around the ears about our water

OUR unenviable reputation for being a rain-sodden country doesn’t take in the slightest from the challenge of ensuring the supply and quality of water here are up to standard in the future.

In recent years, we’ve had outbreaks of cryptosporidium and widespread reports of contaminated drinking water, often caused by farm effluent and seepage from domestic tanks. All of which means we shouldn’t be complacent.

Last year, the European Court of Justice reprimanded Ireland for not properly implementing EU rules on waste water in rural areas, pointing to the way dysfunctional sewage systems were working.

Now comes another rap on the knuckles in the form of a first warning to Ireland and 11 other EU member states for missing a deadline on submitting plans for managing river basins, as required by EU water legislation.

The river basin plans are the cornerstone of the Water Framework Directive and essential for achieving the EU’s objective of ‘good status’ for European waters by 2015. They should have been adopted by December 2009 at the latest.

Other states to receive the warning include: Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.

Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik says the majority of member states have successfully delivered their river basin management plans on time, but there are still no plans for a quarter of the EU’s territory. Environment Minister John Gormley said he is ‘more disappointed than anybody’ that Ireland failed to make the deadline, but added plans are nearly finalised.

These plans will form the basis of how we protect our water resources, so it is vital they are of the highest quality possible.

“They are taking a little longer to finalise than we had hoped, but the local authorities across the country are finishing the plans, and they will be forwarded to my office in the next month or so,” Mr Gormley said.

Member states have to publish a management plan for each river basin district. They are required to consult the public and other interested parties and publish draft copies. Because of these requirements, public consultations should have started by December 2008. However, in some member states this still hasn’t happened.

With plans for a quarter of the EU’s territory still missing, some 31% of citizens have no certainty on how their water resources will be managed. Further delays will have a knock-on effect for the overall implementation of the directive.

It came into force in 2000, to provides a basis for integrated water management in river basin districts across the European Union. It obliges member states to protect and restore ground and surface water, rivers, lakes, canals and coastal water to ‘good status’ by 2015.

Water management is not just about ensuring safe drinking water. It also embraces issues such as flooding which caused havoc in places such as Cork and Galway last winter, highlighting management problems and issues relating to planning, as unfortunate people living in flood planes can relate. All such issues will be dealt with by the directive.

Ireland has eight river basin districts, one of which is in the North and three others take in both sides of the border.

Having been assessed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the plans will be approved by Mr Gormley before being referred to Brussels. The hope is they will be implemented soon after that. Work will include cleaning up dirty waterways, protecting cleaner waters and safeguarding areas which have been designated for conservation.

Also to be considered will be the effects of climate change and management of fisheries, including salmon waters. Something else which has come seriously into play in recent times is the impact of invasive weeds and plants which have taken hold in many rivers and lakes, notably in the Corrib.

The South Western River Basin District encompasses counties Cork and Kerry, all of Cork city and parts of counties Limerick, Tipperary South and Waterford. The project is led by Cork County Council. All six local authorities, whose counties lie within the basin district, are actively participating in the project. Covering a total of area of around 15,000 square km, the district includes some of the country’s most important waters and fisheries, including the River Blackwater, the Lee, Youghal Bay, Cork Harbour and Dingle Bay, to name just some. It also has a 1,800 km coastline.

Water is something people still tend to take for granted, though that may change with the forthcoming introduction of charges when we will have to pay for what we use.

And, as the world’s population grows, water is set to become an urgent global issue, with the United Nations expecting two-thirds of the planet to experience shortages by 2025.