THE MINISTER for the Environment John Gormley has said the drinking water contamination outbreak in Galway last year "should never happen again" anywhere in the State.
Mr Gormley made his comments on a visit to Galway yesterday, where he announced his approval of a €16.5 million "parcel" of water service schemes for Galway city and county.
The €3.6 million announced by him for upgrading works at the Terryland water treatment plant in Galway city has already been earmarked. However, the funds for improving drinking water are additional to the €21 million allocated for, but not drawn down, by Galway City Council when the water contamination crisis arose last March, according to the Minister's department.
The "parcel" of funds will also be allocated to the provision of sewerage schemes for Barna and Mountbellew, Co Galway.
Referring to last year's cryptosporidium contamination in Galway city and county, Mr Gormley said it should "never happen again".
He said he had also increased the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 43 per cent, and the EPA had new monitoring powers in relation to drinking water.
However, in contrast to his predecessor in environment, Dick Roche, Mr Gormley said it was not his "approach" to "knock heads together" within the local authorities.
"I don't want to get into the blame game," Mr Gormley said, emphasising he was pleased with progress in relation to Galway's upgrade.
It was difficult within a "systems failure" to pinpoint a cause, Mr Gormley said, and he preferred to be "solution-orientated", and to ensure a good drinking water supply for the people of Galway.
"The works I am now approving will allow an extra 20,000 cubic metres of water a day to be treated at the new Terryland plant, which will reduce the city's dependency on the supply from Luimnagh, Co Galway, and help cater for the city's medium-term needs," he said.
Mr Gormley said his department is examining Galway City Council's latest proposals for water conservation, for which an allocation of €12 million is included in the Department of the Environment's water services investment programme.