€133m rural water quality investment unveiled

THE water supply to 45,000 rural households is to be upgraded with a record investment of €133 million, it was announced yesterday.

Fri, 24 Feb, 2006 - 00:00

Sarah Stack

Environment Minister, Dick Roche, revealed plans to create 70 new water treatment plants to be completed by the end of the year, with a further 77 to be progressed through planning.

A total of €4m will also be ploughed into a pilot scheme to test vacuum sewers and septic tank effluent drainage systems in seven small Tipperary villages.

The programmes were disclosed by Mr Roche at the launch of the department's 2006 Rural Water Programme in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.

He said the massive cash allocation removed any financial impediment on progress towards full compliance with EU drinking water standards.

"The turning point has been reached in our campaign to rid rural Ireland of sub-standard group water schemes," he said.

"This comprehensive work programme for 2006 will result in major headway being made towards the goal of securing improved water supplies for around 45,000 rural households. This is practically all the rural houses identified in the last census as having a connection to a group scheme with a private source," he added.

The minister described the budget for 2006 as the most ambitious and challenging yet with works to be carried out including:

* Completion of 70 new group water scheme treatment and disinfection plants, serving 19,000 rural houses, by the end of the year.

* 77 water treatment plants, serving a further 17,000 households, to be advanced through planning, with up to half starting construction in 2006.

* 93 quality deficient group water schemes, serving almost 4,000 houses, to be taken into public charge by county councils.

* 42 group schemes, serving up to 6,000 houses, to take new connections from local authority public water supply networks.

Commenting on the pilot test of new types of waste water collection and treatment systems in Tipperary, the minister added: "Vacuum sewers and Septic Tank Effluent Drainage Systems (STEDS) have proved to be a cost-effective alternative to conventional gravity and pumped sewerage systems in other countries and I want them tried here."

The STEDS system retains existing domestic septic tanks on-site, but collects the effluent and transfers it through a small diameter PVC pipe for treatment at a central location.

The Rural Water Programme is being funded under the Regional Operational Programmes as part of the National Development Plan 2000-2006.

Programme breakdown

Carlow: €3,185,000

Cavan: €7,850,000

Clare: €9,095,000

Cork North: €1,350,000

Cork South: €2,037,000

Cork West: €1,860,000

Donegal: €4,290,000

Galway: €19,233,000

Kerry: €3,135,000

Kildare: €2,327,000