Inaction ‘not an option’

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Rural Water News Spring 2008 RWP Capital Programme 2008 Killeen predicts ‘another challenging year’ For the second year in succession, the launch of the annual Rural Water Programme was held in a frontline area in the battle being waged against deficient drinking water quality. But if it was Castlebar in 2007, Claregalway hosted this year’s allocations announcement, as Minister Tony Killeen, TD, kept faith with the investment programme that is badly needed to bring the rural water sector up to the required standard. And, as Galway County Manager, Martina Maloney observed in her welcoming address to the Minister, no county in Ireland needs that investment more than Galway which boasts by far the largest number of group water schemes, many of which are small and too many of which are qualitydeficient. ‘It is a case of applying resources to where the need is greatest’, she said, acknowledging that by far the largest tranche of funding (€25.7 million) was allocated to the Joyce country. Challenges But if the scale of RWP allocations is urgently needed (and it is), then Minister Killen was himself quick to acknowledge that such large funding carries its own challenges for local authorities in terms of getting it spent. In keeping with his usual style, the Minister referred Minister Tony Killeen, TD, pictured in Claregalway at the announcement of allocations under the Rural Water Programme for 2008. 4 Galway County Manager, Martina Maloney. only briefly to his prepared speech, preferring to address his audience ex tempore about the core issues that he sees for the rural water sector in the year ahead, predicting that 2008 would be another challenging year in terms of achieving compliant drinking water quality. As in Kilcoona-Caherlistrane earlier in the morning, he paid a heartfelt tribute to GWS activists and their contribution to rural Ireland, while singling out the National Federation of Group Water Schemes for its contribution to the ongoing success of the RWP. But, of course, the core business of the day was the allocation of €135 million, a slightly lower figure than last year, but €5 million more than the total spend in 2007. Allocations The breakdown of allocations announced by the Minister included: • €51.2m towards new treatment plants for group schemes with sub-standard sources and towards water conservation and critical mains replacement. The bulk of this allocation, €34.75m, is shared between Galway (€18m), Mayo (€10.5m) and Roscommon (€6.25m) to progress and complete the last of the DBO bundled projects in these counties. • €6.1m towards the connection of group schemes to public supplies, with the main funding spread across Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Wicklow. • €21.2m towards the takeover of group water schemes by local authorities this year. 51 identified group schemes remain to be dealt with. • €23.3m for general upgrading works on group water schemes, as well as for new schemes and extensions to existing schemes. This Minister stressed that this funding will be focused on upgrading works that contribute to improvements in water quality, while also encouraging the development of the group schemes sector to cater for growing rural communities. • €33.2m under the Small Public Water and Sewerage Schemes Measure, €10m of which is for remedial measures on certain public water supply schemes identified by the EPA [see facing page]. This allocation also give local authorities significant help to expand and improve their existing water and sewerage networks and treatment facilities in rural areas.
Rural Water News Spring 2008 O’Mahony Welcoming the RWP allocations announcement on behalf of the group scheme sector, NFGWS Chairperson, Brendan O’Mahony said: ‘It was inevitable that as the bulk of infrastructural projects were either completed or nearing completion that the allocation under this heading would fall back and that the overall spend would level off somewhat. ‘Having said that, our Federation believes that there are compelling reasons to sustain strong investment under the Rural Water Programme in the period ahead. ‘Yes, the treatment facilities are there, or will be there shortly, but there is a need for continued investment in networks, in water conservation (in particular the extension of grant aid for metering to all group water schemes), and we should be seeing increased focus and investment in the areas of source protection and Quality Assurance. Objective Identifying delivery of the QA system as a ‘primary objective for the NFGWS in the year ahead’, Mr O’Mahony concluded that the assistance provided through the RWP, together with realistic and equitable pricing strategies, ‘is enabling group schemes to raise their performance to a world-class level’. Allocations response to EPA Water Quality Report The 2008 RWP allocations include a contingency sum of €10m that is being specially set aside to deal with certain public water supplies with potential quality issues. This is a direct response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s identification of 339 public supplies that require detailed profiling from catchment to consumer to determine whether they need to be replaced or upgraded, or where operational practices need to be improved to ensure that the water supplied to the general public is clean and wholesome. Rural Registration Water Programme Allocations 2008 alert! The Agency has asked the local authorities concerned to draw up action plans to address the issues raised in each of the 339 cases. It is anticipated that a significant proportion of the schemes involved will require only modest, low-cost upgrading to resolve security and safety issues (e.g. chlorine residual monitors, turbidity monitors and dial-out alarms). The contingency funding to cover such works is being made available under the Small Public Water and Sewerage Schemes Measure of the RWP. County DBO Connecting to Takeover Upgrade of New Small public Total Projects public main of GWS GWS schemes water/sewerage allocation d GWS co-ops d face d d d d d Carlow 4,000,000 cancellation 0 450,000 0 0 800,000 5,250,000 Cavan 2,800,000 0 200,000 650,000 900,000 800,000 5,350,000 Clare 1,500,000 0 1,300,000 850,000 950,000 900,000 5,500,0000 Cork North 0 0 90,000 600,000 350,000 800,000 2,650,000 Cork South 0 0 675,000 0 125,000 800,000 1,600,000 Cork West 0 0 0 0 600,000 800,000 1,400,000 Donegal 0 0 4,500,000 360,000 360,000 1,250,000 6,470,000 Dublin area 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Galway 18,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 900,000 1,000,000 800,000 25,700,000 Kerry 0 0 1,00,000 300,000 500,000 800,000 2,600,000 Kildare 80,000 0 256,500 0 750,000 800,000 1,886,500 Kilkenny 39,000 0 86,000 450,000 15,300 800,000 1,390,300 Laois 800,000 0 550,000 600,000 450,000 800,000 3,200,000 Leitrim 450,000 1,100,000 3,000,000 900,000 300,000 800,000 6,550,000 Limerick 1,000,000 0 1,500,000 1,400,000 86,000 800,000 4,786,000 Longford 0 27,000 360,000 0 450,000 900,000 1,737,000 Louth 0 0 62,000 106,000 43,000 800,000 1,011,000 Mayo 10,500,000 585,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 800,000 800,000 16,185,000 Meath 1,440,000 0 0 300,000 220,500 800,000 2,760,500 Monaghan 450,000 0 90,000 2,500,000 0 800,000 3,840,000 Offaly 0 0 63,000 500,000 900,000 800,000 2,263,000 Roscommon 6,250,000 500,000 239,400 0 75,500 800,000 7,864,900 Sligo 0 0 405,000 650,000 300,000 800,000 2,155,000 Tipperary Nth 990,000 0 100,000 0 90,000 800,000 2,430,000 Tipperary Sth 0 0 190,000 26,000 22,000 800,000 1,038,000 Waterford 0 0 0 20,000 100,000 800,000 1,020,000 Westmeath 1,800,000 0 128,000 100,000 500,000 800,000 3,328,000 Wexford 570,000 0 900,000 0 100,000 800,000 2,370,000 Wicklow 550,000 900,000 207,000 200,000 7,800 800,000 2,664,800 Total 51,219,000 6,112,000 21,161,900 13,362,000 9,995,100 23,150,000 135,000,000 5
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Inaction ‘not an option’

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