EPA ups the ante

Rural Water News Autumn 2007
The state of
the RWP
The case presented to the
European Commission in
June provided much of the
core data presented to the
Rural Water Conference by
Carthage Cusack of the
Water Services Section,
DoEHLG.
Detailing progress under in
bringing schemes into compliance
with water quality
standards, Mr Cusack also
provided an account of the
financial drawdown under
the RWP Capital Investment
Programme in 2007.
Sector
A total of 728 privatelysourced
schemes, supplying
50 persons or more (encompassing
more than 88,000
households), come under the
terms of the legislation.
Of these, 451 scheme were
listed in Annex 14 as part of
the case adjudicated on by
the European Court of
Justice in November 2002.
A further 277 schemes
(mainly in southern counties)
have been added to this list.
The upgrade plans set
down in the National Rural
Water Monitoring Committee
Action Plan 2003-2006 continue
to be implemented.
In terms of households, the
upgrading programme is now
completed in respect of
60,684 homes. For a further
10,391 homes, upgrades are
currently underway.
Projects that will benefit
17,000 homes are still at a
planning stage, but for
11,000 of those the planning
process is at an advanced
stage.
Timescales for the completion
of all remaining
upgrades were revealed by
Mr Cusack, the latest date
being 31 December 2008.
Compliance
There was heartening news
in relation to compliance
with the crucial e-coli standards.
Recent monitoring has
shown 626 schemes (86%) in
compliance, with 102 (14%)
non-compliant.
Translated into households,
92% (80,997) are receiving
water that complies with the
ecoli standard, while 7,270
(8%) are not.
Cautioning that there is
more to do, Mr Cusack said
that while great progress has
been made, the threat of EU
sanctions still hangs over
Ireland.
Spend
The drawdown of funds
under the 2007 RWP allocation
had increased more than
5% on the same period in
2006, with more than 38%
allocated to early September.
Having said that, Mr
Cusack pointed out that six
councils had not drawn down
a penny!
The highest rate of spending
has been under the ‘new &
upgrade’ and ‘small scheme’
headings (54% and 44%
respectively), while spending
on ‘connection to public
mains’, ‘takeover’ and ‘disinfection/sterilisation’
was disappointingly
low (20.5%,
23% and 1% respectively).
More encouraging, spending
on DBO and advance
DBO projects (40.66% and
35% respectively) was well
up on last year.
Mr Cusack concluded by
asking local authorities to
focus on the priority measures
required to bring existing
schemes into compliance.
Quality Assurance Scheme training was introduced on Tydavnet GWS
this summer. Jean Gibson (NFGWS Quality Assurance Officer) is pictured
with Claire Sherlock (Tydavnet GWS) and Dr Siobhán Jordan
(National Source Protection Pilot Project).
Treatment alone
is not enough
For any group scheme that
thought the provision of
state-of-the-art treatment
facilities was the answer to
their water quality problems,
the stark message from
NFGWS Quality Assurance
Officer, Jean Gibson, was
that treatment of itself cannot
guarantee quality at the
consumer’s tap.
Even in the most modern of
schemes, it is not possible to
deliver quality drinking
water without monitoring,
checking, inspecting and
auditing: control is essential
to ensure success.
According to Ms Gibson,
maintaining quality along the
distribution network is
emerging as a new priority
and the Quality Assurance
Scheme is tailor-made for
this, as it targets schemes that
are providing fully treated
water to their consumers.
HACCP
The Hazard Analysis Critical
Contol Points (HACCP) system
that forms the basis of
the NFGWS Quality
Assurance Scheme provides
a ‘systematic preventative
and recording approach to
quality assurance’.
In essence, it involves the
identification of present or
possible hazards and formulates
the steps which may be
taken to minimise or eliminate
them.
EPA Recommendation
Jean Gibson reminded delagates
that the EPA strongly
recommends that every GWS
should obtain certification
under the NFGWS Quality
Assurance Scheme.
Until now, the absence of
adequate treatment on most
schemes, meant that implementation
of this recommendation
had to be put on hold.
As most schemes now have
water treatment in place (or
will shortly have it) the QA
scheme is scheduled to be
rolled out in the coming
weeks and months.
Schemes in Monaghan,
Cavan, Sligo and Limerick
are being targetted in the first
instance.
Ms Gibson concluded by
reminding schemes that QA
certification will be a condition
of subsidy in future.
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