Local authorities want water treatment plants fast-tracked

Local authority managers have responded swiftly to the EPA drinking water report, calling for urgent investment to ensure compliance with European standards.

The County and City Managers' Association called for a "fast-track" system to be put in place to ensure an improvement in delivery times for new water treatment plants. At present it can take up to 10 years for such plants to be completed.

Welcoming the report, the association said it had "consistently voiced its concerns" to the Department of the Environment over the level of investment needed to ensure the highest standards of drinking water.

It said clean drinking water was expensive to produce. "Equally the level of sophistication of plant necessary has increased and has resulted in greatly increased operation and maintenance costs."

But it said drinking water was just one of a number of areas where increased EU and national regulation had resulted in a significantly larger financial burden being placed on local authorities.

"As previous cases relating to waste management and landfill directives have demonstrated, significant investment is required in both infrastructure and systems to enable local authorities to comply with their obligations and deliver high quality products to the consumer," it said.

Association chairman and Cork city manager Joe Gavin said the EPA report "highlights the pressure the system is under at present".

"Higher EU standards and threats to the water supply such as cryptosporidium and E.coli mean that the thinking and systems of the past are no longer adequate. The provision of safe and secure water has to take top priority and will require significant financial resources," he said.

Although local authorities had the capacity to make the necessary improvements, greater resources are needed, he said.

"In the light of the EPA's report, it is clear that the delivery system needs to change. Together with the department we need to short-circuit the steps involved so that new schemes can be fast-tracked."

Mr Gavin said it was "most important that we move forward now as rapidly as possible to implement a framework that would deliver and support the provision of high quality water to all customers".