EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
««« « « 1999 « « 2004 « « «««
Committee on Petitions
6 July 2005
NOTICE TO MEMBERS
Petition 333/98 by Mr Jack Norton (Irish) on the quality of drinking water in Callaheigue (County Galway)
Petition 661/2000, by Mr Patrick Grogan (Irish) on the quality of drinking water in Kilfera (County Kilkenny)
I. Summary of petition 333/98
The petitioner complains about the deterioration in the quality of the drinking water in the Carraroe to Greatman’s Bay area of Callaheigue, County Galway. He maintains that requests for funding to provide a suitable water supply have been rejected by the Irish Department of the Environment and the European Union.
INFORMATION: Consider in public.
II. Declared admissible on 2 October 1998; the Commission was asked to provide information pursuant to Rule 157(4) of the Rules of Procedure.
III. Summary of petition 661/2000
The petitioner states that since 1996 he has made numerous complaints to the local authorities concerning the quality of water supplied by Troyswood water plant. He complains that the water is unfit for human consumption or domestic use, and that tests confirmed that substances detected in the water exceeded the levels laid down in European and World Health Organisation directives. He indicates that as a result the water pipes were scoured out and residents were advised not to drink the water without first boiling it. He further maintains that a chlorination system that was subsequently fitted to the local water supply was defective and also resulted in the water not being potable. The petitioner expresses his frustration at the lack of remedial action taken by the authorities to improve the quality of the water supply, particularly since the most recent samples taken in 2000 confirm that the water is still not
CM\574719EN.doc PE 230.098/rev.VIII EN EN drinkable.
Information - The petition was transmitted by Mrs Ahern, MEP. - Petition 333/98 concerns the quality of drinking water in County Galway. It was declared admissible and examined at the meetings of 17/18 May 1999 and 10-12 July 2000. In its reply, the Commission revealed that it had initiated infringement proceedings against Ireland, pursuant to Article 226 of the EC Treaty, concerning countrywide non-compliance with the quality standards set out in the 1980 EC directive on drinking water. It was decided to ask the Commission for further information. Consider together with petition 333/98.
IV. Declared admissible on 26 January 2000; the Commission was asked to provide information pursuant to Rule 157(3) of the Rules of Procedure.
V. Commission reply regarding petition 333/98, received on 5 February 1999
The Commission services carefully examined all the documents provided by the petitioner. From the attached correspondence, it is clearly suggested that there is a problem with drinking water quality in this area. This is not an isolated case. The Commission is aware of relatively widespread problems of compliance with the microbiological parametric values in Irish drinking water supplies, particularly in rural areas. In the light of this it is making use of its powers in order to ensure that full compliance with the requirements of Directive 80/778/EEC1 (Drinking Water Directive) is achieved.
Following complaints received in 1997 about widespread non-compliance with the total coliform and faecal coliform parameters of the Directive, the Commission made detailed representations to Ireland in 1997. In 1998, the Irish authorities responded. Having considered this response and found it unsatisfactory, the Commission notified a letter of formal notice to Ireland in the matter in November 1998 (procedure A97/4409). Ireland’s response is currently awaited.
As far as projects funded by the Cohesion Fund are concerned the situation is as follows: the Irish authorities submitted in June 1995 an application for the Connemara Environment Project, a major water supply and waste water treatment scheme covering the Connemara area (including Carraroe) and the Aran Islands at a total cost of 90 m ecu. As the total amount of the projects submitted by the Irish authorities greatly exceeded - and still does - the available budget, a selection of projects had to be done taking into account the importance of the proposed projects and a maximum fulfilment of economic and environmental criteria. As this project was not selected at that time, the authorities have not included the water supply scheme for Carraroe in their request to the Commission (June 1996, September 1997) to consider funding of the water supplies for Inishmore and Spiddal/Rossaveal.
1 OJ L 229, 30.8.1980, pp. 11-29.
PE 230.098/rev.VIII 2/7 CM\574719EN.doc EN VI. Further Commission reply regarding petition 333/98, received on 3 April 2000
The Commission has decided to make an application to the European Court of Justice against Ireland for non-respect of the European Union’s Drinking Water Directive1. This action relates to the widespread non-compliance of Irish drinking water supplies with the standards set out in the directive, as well as weaknesses in the Irish legislation relating to privately-run supplies in rural areas (group water supplies). The decision to make a Court application against Ireland reflects in particular the widespread persistent microbiological pollution of group water supplies as evidenced by the presence of total and faecal coliforms. It also reflects the failure of the Irish implementing legislation to adequately ensure that group water supplies are required to comply with the standards of the directive.
VII. Further Commission reply regarding both petitions, received on 3 April 2001
In 2000, the Commission has launched an application to the Court of Justice against Ireland for non-compliance with the requirements of Directive on quality of water intended for human consumption (80/778/EEC)2.
The decision of the Court is awaited. This case concerns both public and group water schemes and the exceedances of microbiological parameters.
The particular case referred by the petitioner concerns non-compliance with the requirements of the Directive, especially for the chemical parameters iron, aluminium and manganese. In general, Ireland’s official drinking water reports show very few exceedances for County Kilkenny. If there is a very localised problem, the Commission would encourage the petitioner to continue to make efforts to resolve this with the local authority concerned, Kilkenny County Council. However, the Commission will address a letter to the Irish authorities requesting their comments on this matter.
VIII. Further Commission reply regarding both petitions, received on 28 September 2001
The procedure before the Court of Justice is ongoing and no decision has yet been delivered.
As regard to the problem of chemical parameters (and aluminium in particular), the Irish authorities have acknowledged in the frame of the information sent to the Commission on the implementation of the directive that there was a need for continued attention to treatment performance. Local authorities have been asked to review current practices, taking account of recommendations made in the reports on the quality of drinking water in Ireland drafted by the EPA.
In the light of the new information provided by the petitioner, the Irish report on the quality of drinking water for 1999 (received on 9 March 2001) has been analysed and it appears that for Kilkenny County Council, 26 exceedances of the maximum allowable level for aluminium have been registered.
On that basis, the Commission has written to the national authorities for clarification and the answer will be communicated to the Committee as soon as it is received.
1 Council Directive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980 - OJ L 229, 30.8.1980, p.1. 2 OJ L 229, 30.9.1980.
CM\574719EN.doc 3/7 PE 230.098/rev.VIII EN IX. Further Commission reply, received on 28 May 2002
The last letter of the Commission for requesting additional clarification regarding the problem has been sent to the Irish Authorities on 2 July 2001.
Nothing has been received so far and the Commission has again written to National Authorities requesting additional elements.
Relevant information will be communicated to the Committee as soon as it is received.
X. Further Commission reply, received on 24 October 2002
The petitioner is concerned about drinking water quality in Kilfera, County Kilkenny.
Council Directive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980 relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption1 provides for a number of parameters that water intended for human consumption must not exceed, with aluminium being one of these parameters.
Upon assessment of the issues raised in these petitions, the Commission communicated with the Irish authorities. A reply was received from the Irish authorities in February 2002 which indicated that remedial action to address the issues raised by the petitioners had been taken by the relevant local authority and that the scenario described in the petitions no longer existed. The reply indicated that further improvement works were proposed for the coming years to ensure that the drinking water supplied from the Troyswood Treatment Works will accord at all times with the drinking water standards. The upgrading of the Kilkenny City water supply is also amongst the projects included in the water services investment programme of the Department of the Environment and Local Government.
However, in June 2002, the Commission received a copy of The Quality of Drinking Water in Ireland – A report for the year 2000 with a review of the period 1998-20002. This report noted3 that over half the samples taken for the Kilkenny City (Troyswood) scheme exceeded the aluminium standard and in Kilkenny the compliance with the aluminium standard remains poor.
Thus, given that the issue of aluminium exceedance persists in Kilkenny, the Commission is currently considering as a matter of urgency what further action may be taken.
XI. Further Commission reply regarding petition 333/98, received on 16 June 2003
The Court of Justice gave its judgment on 14 November 2002. This judgment recognises that Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 7(6), 18 and 19 of Directive 80/778/EEC4. On the basis of this judgment, the Commission wrote to the Irish authorities on 25 November 2002 to ask what steps Ireland planned to take to comply with it.
1 Ibid., pp. 11-29. 2 Environmental Protection Agency (2001), ISBN 1-84095-078-1. 3 Ibid., pp. 45 and 46. 4 OJ L 229, 30.8.1980, p.11.
PE 230.098/rev.VIII 4/7 CM\574719EN.doc EN At a meeting between the Commission and the Irish authorities on 28 February 2003, the latter confirmed their intention to alter the measures implementing Directive 80/778/EEC swiftly in order to resolve the problems set out in the Court’s judgment.
Regarding the measures necessary to ensure compliance with the biological parameters in the supply areas mentioned in the judgment, the Irish authorities emphasised the current level of investment being made to improve drinking-water treatment facilities and signalled their readiness to keep the Commission informed of progress made on a case-by-case basis.
XII. Further Commission reply regarding petition 661/2000, received on 16 June 2003
The issue of the quality of drinking water in Kilkenny was discussed on 17 January 2003 in Dublin, as part of the periodic meetings between the Commission and the Irish authorities. At that meeting the Commission was supplied with further information, which is currently being analysed.
The Commission has also been made aware of the report by Ms Keßler, MEP, and Mr Camisón Asensio, MEP, following their visit to Ireland on 3 and 4 April 2003.
On the basis of all this information and the results of the analyses received, the Commission will be in a position to produce a complete and objective evaluation of the situation.
XIII. Further Commission reply regarding petition 333/98, received on 23 March 2004
In previous communications, the Commission advised that water quality problems in this area were addressed within the framework of a Court of Justice legal action brought by it against Ireland (Case C-316/2000). The legal action concerned the failure of Ireland to respect microbiological standards set down in Directive 80/778/EEC on the quality of water intended for human consumption1. These standards require a zero presence of total and faecal coliforms in drinking water. Non-compliance is a public health concern because the presence of these bacteria is an indicator of the possible presence of human pathogens. Evidence from annual Irish drinking water reports showed that there was a persistent failure to comply with these standards in hundreds of small public and private water supplies. Amongst the supplies affected was the public supply at Carraroe, which has shown evidence of faecal contamination.
On 14 November 2003, the Court of Justice delivered a judgement against Ireland for breach of the Directive. Since then, the Commission has been in discussion with the Irish authorities on the detailed measures it proposes to take to comply with the judgement and ensure bacteria-free drinking water. This involves systematically tackling the causes of non- compliance, which are essentially twofold. In the first place, there is frequently inadequate protection of drinking water sources, which are vulnerable to pollution from livestock wastes as well as from poorly sited or poorly maintained septic tanks. In the second place, drinking water is in many cases either not subject to any disinfection or to inadequate disinfection. The Commission has stressed the need for a dual approach of adequate source protection and adequate disinfection.
1 OJ L 229, 30.9.1980
CM\574719EN.doc 5/7 PE 230.098/rev.VIII EN The Irish authorities have outlined a wide range of measures to deal with the problem. Legislation has been tightened up and further legislation is planned to improve quality control. New guidance has been issued to local authorities to improve source protection. EUR 644 million has been assigned to investment in rural water infrastructure in the period 2000-2006. Training and development programmes have been set up to improve the awareness and skills of those managing water supplies.
These measures are general in nature, but the Commission has also sought supply-specific information from the Irish authorities to see what progress is being made, including information with regard to this specific supply.
On 27 November 2003, Ireland provided supply-specific information, including the results of monitoring of this supply on several occasions during 2002. The results in all cases showed a zero presence of total and faecal coliforms, suggesting that the water quality was microbiologically compliant with the Directive during this year. The Commission continues to keep the overall situation on microbiological compliance with the Directive (now replaced by Directive 98/83/EC) in Ireland under review.
XIV. Further Commission reply regarding petition 661/2000, received on 6 July 2005-07-29
Communication complémentaire de la Commission concernant la pétition n° 661/2000 présentée par M. Patrick GROGAN Objet : la qualité de l'eau potable à Kilfera (comté de Kilkenny)
As already indicated to the Committee on Petitions, the Troyswood public water supply, which is the subject of this petition, is covered by a decision of the European Court of Justice of 14 November 2002 (Case C-316/00, Commission v Ireland), in which Ireland was condemned for persistent breaches at numerous public water supplies of the total coliform and/or faecal coliform standards of Directive 80/778/EEC on the quality of water intended for human consumption1.
As also indicated to the Committee, the Commission is following up this Court judgment, which involves major investments and improvements in the management of water supplies.
A report produced by the Irish authorities in March 2005 indicates that, across Ireland as a whole, the number of public supplies not complying with total coliform and faecal coliform standards is gradually falling.
The general situation in County Kilkenny has improved with 12 out of 15 public water supplies fully compliant with the total coliform and faecal coliform standards in 2003 as compared with only 5 supplies that were compliant in 1993. Regrettably, Troyswood was one of the supplies that were non-compliant in 2003 in relation to total coliforms.
As a result, mains flushing and a review of the disinfection regime have been carried out in the Troyswood public water supply. An improvement plan for the Troyswood Scheme has also been approved. The plan will involve further investigations into the present arrangements for raw water abstraction and supply to the existing treatment works and will
1 OJ L 229, 30.9.1980
PE 230.098/rev.VIII 6/7 CM\574719EN.doc EN make recommendations for the improvement of the scheme. A preliminary report is due by the end of 2005 and it is envisaged that the plan will lead to construction work starting in late 2006/early 2007.
The petition has also raised the issue of aluminium levels. A graph obtained from the Irish authorities at the end of 2004 shows a downward trend in aluminium levels at Troyswood during that year. More specifically, while there were exceedences of the aluminium parameter in the first quarter of that year, between April and November no exceedences were recorded. In May 2005, the Irish authorities confirmed that this trend had since been maintained.
CM\574719EN.doc 7/7 PE 230.098/rev.VIII EN