Friends' Work

// EU THREATENS DAILY FINES FOR CONTAMINATED IRISH WATER

'ABSOLUTE FAILURE' BY EPA ALLEGED BY NGO

In a timely final warning, the European Commission has today informed Ireland that drinking water must be kept free of contamination or it will face daily fines.

An original Judgement against Ireland in 2002 confirmed Ireland's 'failure to comply with microbiological parameters' for water schemes.

At the time Ireland claimed that effluent from 'farmyards, septic tanks, silage slabs, etc. and diffuse sources' were 'the main contributors to pollution in rural areas' and that the 'problem is being tackled on a number of fronts through a comprehensive national policy, consisting in a series of detailed measures'. Ireland stressed 'the effectiveness of those source-protection measures' and claimed that they were 'fully in accordance with Community environmental policies.'

It is apparent today that these were empty words. As a consequence the Commission is left with no recourse but daily fines.

In the case of Galway and the current cryptosporidium outbreak, filtration alone will eliminate this dangerous protozoa. Even slow sand filtration will remove cryptosporidium. This is inexpensive and hardly rocket science.

Friends of the Irish Environment, who lodged their first complaint to the Commission over Irish water quality 10 years ago, recently claimed that 'The continuing failure of Ireland to meet its obligations has been caused by the absolute failure of the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] to take action against defaulting Local Authorities, action which has been open to it since the Protection of the Environment Act [2003.]'.

The EPA publishes the annual drinking water quality reports on which this prosecution is based. This 2003 legislation fundamentally changed the powers of the EPA giving it the authority to issue 'Directions' to local authorities who continue to supply or allow to be supplied polluted drinking water 'and the authority shall comply with the direction within the period specified therein.'

This clear power of the EPA to take all steps to bring the inadequate water supplies up to the legal minimum standard with a specified period of time has never been used.

Commission Press Release:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/391&type=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en#fn1

Verification and further information: Tony Lowes 027 73131 / 087 2176316

EDITORS NOTE

The Commission recently levied a one-off fine of 20 million euros against France for what it called "persistent infringements" of fishing regulations with a further payment of 57.76 million euros for every six-month period from the decision until compliance.