Ciarán Cuffe's Water Services Bill Speech

Speeches: Ciarán's Dáil speech on the Water Services Bill (2003)

6 October 2004

Mr. Cuffe: I warmly welcome this Bill. It is designed to modernise and manage water supply and distribution systems and it is a welcome measure. However, there is insufficient emphasis on sustainability, water conservation and water quality in the Bill so substantial reforms will have to be made to it to make it acceptable from the Green Party's point of view.

We would prefer a demand management led approach to this matter, twinned with support and incentives to encourage conservation and reuse. We are disturbed there is an emphasis in the Bill on simply meeting demand as it increases rather than on examining the reasons for demand increasing and ways in which we can limit that demand and control and conserve water supplies. We are pleased with the European water framework directive and decision making at local level regarding water should be informed by that directive and undertaken with a river basin approach.

A conservation ethos of placing new emphasis on efficiency is necessary to save the Government and the taxpayer millions of euro. There should be proposals to reduce pollution at source, in the home and in industry. It is much more efficient, and far cheaper in the long run, to pre-empt and prevent pollution. Water quality also demands a new and urgent approach to policy, given the potentially serious implications for the health of consumers. Only a steep change in existing remedial policy to address water quality standards will succeed in reversing current trends with their potential consequences for human health. As the Friends of the Irish Environment have pointed out, Irish measures to improve water quality are fundamentally misguided.

Successive Governments have allocated massive funding for end of pipe solutions based on high cost engineering and damaging chemicals while the nitrates directive remains unenforced and dispersed rural septic tanks continue to proliferate. There should be use of separation techniques, such as dual piping systems in new buildings where pure water is used for drinking and washing and grey water is used for other needs within the home. There is insufficient mention of this in the Bill. Grey water could be used for showers, sinks, dishwashers, baths and washing machines. Indeed, roof collectors for water could be used in new homes and the building regulations could be changed to reflect this. The Bill should encourage this as well.

The Green Party would like to see a new emphasis on the quality of drinking water. The removal of fluoride should be discussed in the context of the Bill. Sadly, however, there is insufficient emphasis on this and on the repeal of the Health (Fluoridation of Water Supplies) Act 1960. There should also be an approach to wetlands. The Worldwide Fund for Nature pointed out that Ireland currently has no overall plan or strategy specifically aimed at the conservation of wetlands, although some peatlands are considered for restoration in certain areas. However, wetlands, their role in the water cycle and the functioning of aquatic systems should be included in this Bill.

The Green Party seeks an overall ban on the use of phosphates in washing powders and enforcement of the ban. Phosphates are still making their way into the detergent market in Ireland. All future water management decisions should be climate proofed. In other words, they should anticipate the possible changes in climate that Ireland will experience over coming decades and ensure that those changes are managed. We are concerned at the widespread use of septic tanks in Ireland. Of the planning permissions given for new homes, over a third of the homes are running on stand-alone septic tank systems. This is storing up problems for the future. There should be greater emphasis on alternative methods of treating sewage, such as reed bed systems. These are not given enough attention in the Bill.

The traditional approach to draining development areas has a damaging effect on the environment and is unsustainable. It also contributes to a higher risk of flooding in urban areas. There is an approach called the sustainable urban drainage systems, SUDS, which offers a wide range of techniques for new and redeveloped sites to yield a reduced environmental impact from surface water drainage. At a simple level it means, if possible, avoiding putting down large slabs of concrete or tarmacadam to reduce the risk of flash flooding.

A contributory factor in the floods experienced two years ago in the River Tolka catchment area was the massive amount of urbanisation within that area. If there was a sustainable approach to managing new housing, some of the difficulties that arose could have been avoided. There should be greater recognition of supply side measures in Part 3 of the Bill. Items such as low flush toilets, showers, controlled flow taps and rain water recycling can and should be mentioned in detail in the Bill.

I wish to mention some of the difficulties experienced by the Geological Survey of Ireland. The ban on public service recruitment has led to serious understaffing in the GSI and its ground water protection scheme has been suspended due to a chronic lack of resources. That is a matter of serious concern because, unless we can estimate the damage being done to ground waters, we cannot plan for their future. Given the scale of urbanisation and new home construction in the past five to ten years, we should control this more closely.

We would like to see fairly radical changes in the Bill. Given that water management controls such a high proportion of our budget, we believe there should be greater emphasis on water conservation. I note that certain water conservation measures looking at leaks and wastage in Dublin have reduced leaks from 42.5% to 29%. However, we do not believe that goes far enough and that the high level of wastage and leakage in the Dublin water supply shows that we are undervaluing this resource. We would hate to see plans put in place to extract and to pipe water from either the River Boyne or the River Shannon catchment areas all the way to Dublin. We believe the energy that would be used in such a project would not be sustainable. Instead, we should put the emphasis on water conservation.

We are disturbed there has not been 100% water metering on commercial usage at this stage because we believe such a measure should be moving more quickly than it is. We would like to see that completed this year rather than in a few years' time. In urban areas, we would like to see complete segregation of storm water from sewage. That has not happened and it means our rivers, streams and, indeed, the open sea become heavily polluted at times of heavy rainfall. It should not be the case that people are advised not to swim after periods of heavy rainfall and we should work harder to achieve that separation in towns, villages and urban areas.

We welcome the legislation and believe the word "sustainable" should be incorporated into the heads of the Bill in the same way as it was incorporated into the Planning and Development Act 2000 because it would reflect the mainstreaming of sustainability in this vital area.

Ciarán Cuffe is a TD for the Dún Laoghaire Dáil Constituency. Ciarán can be contacted at Dáil Éireann, Kildare Street, Dublin 2 or 96 Patrick Street, Dún Laoghaire Tel. 284 6060 or 618 3082, Fax 618 4341, Email Ciaran CiaranCuffe.com, or Text Ciaran on 087 265 2075.