Irish Water proposes recycling waste water for drinking supply to
prevent shortages
The proposal is included within the National Water Resources Plan.
IRISH WATER IS proposing to begin recycling waste water from sewage treatment plants into water which can be used for other purposes, including drinking water, to prevent future shortages.
The “effluent reuse” suggestion is proposed within an Irish Water report which looks at how to supply safe and clean drinking water over the next 25 years.
The National Water Resources Plan will outline how Irish Water intends to maintain the balance between its supply from water sources around the country and demand for drinking water over the short, medium and long-term.
During its research for the plan, Irish Water will assess water resources at lakes, rivers and groundwater across the country, while assessing the water demand from homes, businesses, farms and industries.
One of the proposals to maintain the supply of water in Ireland is recycling waste water.
Recycled waste water is used in many countries across the world, but it is primarily used for irrigation and only used during droughts.
Other proposals in the report to meet its objectives include the treatment of seawater (desalination), new water abstraction points, the building of new reservoirs, demand management and improvement to the water treatment plant.
“As a national plan that has to undergo a legal environmental process, Irish Water must look at all options available in global best practice for water resourcing in general,” a spokesperson for Irish Water told TheJournal.ie.
“This includes a range of options from water transfers between areas, to building new reservoirs, to looking at groundwater sources of water, to removing salt from seawater,” they said.
“This is the list of unconstrained options. The Scoping Report has to legally look at all of these options.”
The draft report, which will assess the list of options, will be published in summer 2018, according to Irish Water.
Households face charges of up to €500 for excessive water use under new plans – July 19,2019
HOUSEHOLDS face charges of up to €500 for wasting water under a regime of excessive use charges that has been approved by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU).
The CRU has today published its decision on Irish Water’s proposals for charging for excessive use.
Under the plans, first bills for wasting water are due to land with households in early 2021.
The CRU says the proposal for an excess water usage charge is aimed at encouraging engagement and conservation by Irish Water Customers to address leaks and discourage waste.
An analysis by the regulator and Irish Water indicates that between 7pc and 10pc of households – around 80,000 homes – which have water meters use more than the planned annual free allowance of 213,000 litres per year.
That allowance is 1.7 times the average amount of water used by a household of 125,000 litres per year.
To address the waste, Irish Water put forward proposals on Hosuehold Water Conservation and how customers can engage with them to address over-use.
The proposals approved by the CRU include a procedure for Irish Water to assess, notify and, if required, charge customers for excess usage.
Customers will potentially be able to avail of the ‘First Fix Free’ scheme for leaks.
There is to be a procedure for the treatment of metered and un-metered customers.
The excess use charge is €3.70 per 1,000 litres used over the annual free allowance for households that use water and waste-water services.
The charges of any household will be capped at €500.
Customers can receive a medical need exemption or an additional occupancy allowance.
CRU director of Water and Compliance Laura Brien said: “Conservation must play a significant part in addressing future resilience of the water infrastructure in Ireland.
“This policy clearly sets out how customers must be treated by Irish Water, if excess use is identified, and how customers will be given the opportunity to address this in terms of either fixing leaks or adjusting their consumption levels before any charges may apply.”
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It is accepted that Ireland faces significant challenges in meeting water-
quality targets while increasing production in the agricultural sector, and a key recommendation of the Food Wise 2025 strategy is that the environmental impacts of the strategy should be monitored. The DAFM will work closely with relevant agencies to ensure that this monitoring takes place. In particular, the
ACP programme will model and monitor the impacts of agricultural development under Food Wise 2025 in specific catchments. The ACP will develop an integrated environmental-economic modelling system to identify the impacts of expansion under Food Wise 2025 and to advise on the overall costs and benefits associated with sustainable intensification practices at field, farm and catchment scales. New targeted initiatives will be developed as necessary to ensure that the sustainability objectives of Food Wise 2025 are met.
The Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme
The new collaborative approach called “The Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme”, jointly approved by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG) and
the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), will be implemented from 2018 to 2021 with the support of Dairy Industry Ireland (DII). This is an innovative collaboration between Government and industry. The objective of
the new approach is to encourage and support behavioural change, facilitate knowledge transfer and achieve better on-farm environmental outcomes. The Programme will draw on the experience and resources of key sectoral and industry stakeholders including the two Departments, the local authorities, the dairy co- ops, Teagasc, Bord Bia and the farm organisations.
A broader group of agencies and stakeholders will advise and contribute to the implementation of the programme. A total of 30 sustainability advisers will be assigned to the programme, 20 of whom will be located in Teagasc, while 10 will operate within the dairy processors’ organisational structures.
A joint management team drawn from Teagasc,
the local authorities and the dairy co-ops/Dairy Sustainability Initiative will co-ordinate and direct the work of all the sustainability advisers across the programme.
The 20 sustainability advisers embedded within Teagasc will support the local authority-led priority Areas for Action programme. The Teagasc advisers will offer a free one-to-one sustainability advisory service to over 5,000 farmers who manage lands containing high-risk “critical source areas” (CSAs).The CSAs have been identified by local authorities, with technical support from the EPA (see section 10). Each individual farmer in these areas will have access to a highly trained sustainability adviser, who will provide one-to-one support and assistance in drawing up an individual sustainability action plan for their farm. The sustainability advisers will work collaboratively with all of the other farm advisers and stakeholders in their region to ensure that
the work programme delivers the best possible outcome for the area in relation to water quality. All of the advisers — both Teagasc and co-op based — will work in partnership with the local-authority regional water quality support teams as described in Section 10. There will also be close cooperation between the co-op and Teagasc-based advisers where dairy farms are located in CSAs. All of
the advisers will also support the Programme by organising events aimed at increasing awareness of the activities within catchments and at improving farmer buy-in and uptake practices to improve water quality. Engagement with local stakeholder groups will be extremely important in this regard.
The 10 dairy processor-based sustainability advisers will lead the rollout of the Dairy Sustainability Initiative (see below) — a change programme for the dairy processors’ supply base. The programme will focus on best practice in Nutrient Management Planning (NMP),
on supporting development and effective management of farmyards and roadways and
on supporting best-practice adoption in CSAs. Initially, this Initiative will involve the establishment of 12 pilot projects involving 360 farmers and
will focus on the adoption of best practice in sustainable dairy production in relation to water quality, gaseous emissions and biodiversity. During the period of this Plan up to 2021, the co-ops will promote and support sustainability through their structures, promoting best practice in farming and in nutrient-management processes across all of their 18,000 suppliers.
Preparatory work has commenced, and an overall strategic and operational work plan is being developed by the programme management team, which consists of representatives from Teagasc, local authorities and the co-ops’ Dairy Sustainability Initiative.
Teagasc will also lead a national Agricultural Water Quality Campaign, which will become part of
the overall Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme.
The EPA developed a risk-based methodology to assist the local authorities with the selection of locations for inspections. The methodology took into account the potential risks that DWWTS pose to both human health and water quality. The most recent EPA report on progress during 2016 in implementing the NIP for DWWTSs indicates that 1,110 inspections were carried out that year and that 49% (544) of the systems inspected failed. Of these, 29% (158) failed due to operation and maintenance issues, and 24% (131) failed due to lack of desludging. These failures can be addressed through maintenance works and do not require structural remediation. Structural remediation will, however, be required for 29% (158) of the systems that failed their inspections
7.1.3 Addressing Pressures from Agricultural Diffuse and Point-Source Pollution
Primary agricultural production is a key source of rural diffuse and point-source pollution of waters in certain areas. The catchment characterisation process found agriculture to be a significant pressure in approximately 53% of water bodies identified as At Risk. Excess nutrients, chemicals (including those used in pesticides) and sediment loss due to poor land management have all been identified as likely pressures in certain water bodies.
The characterisation process has identified risks based on current information and trends. Food Wise 2025, which is the report of the 2025 Agri Food Strategy Committee, sets out a cohesive, strategic plan for the development of the agri- food sector over the next decade. It is a key consideration in addressing pressures on water over this cycle of river basin planning. The Food Wise 2025 Strategy sets out ambitious industry targets to be achieved by 2025. These include increasing the value of food exports by 85% and increasing value added in the sector by 70%. The strategy also envisages a 65% increase in the value of primary production. Food Wise 2025 identifies the strategic value of the sector to ruralIreland, and the key opportunities for the sector into the future. However, it also recognises that “a significant increase in food production cannot be considered in isolation from its environmental impact” and that future food-production systems must manage and sustain our natural resources, including water.
Sustainability is, therefore, a key pillar of the strategy and is considered critical to the delivery of the strategy’s objectives. A High Level Implementation Group — chaired by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine — oversees implementation of the recommendations within the strategy, including 69 sustainability-related recommendations. Furthermore, a Food Wise Implementation Plan has been published along with the strategy and will be an important mechanism for ensuring that, during implementation, relevant evidence is gathered to inform decisions on achieving and maintaining a sustainable agriculture sector. A Food Wise 2025 Environmental Sustainability Committee was established in
2016 to evaluate and assess the delivery of environmental sustainability and mitigation actions in theFood Wise Implementation Plan.
The structural changes within the sector arising from Food Wise 2025 will impact differently in different areas of the country. Areas associated with dairy production are expected to see
increased animal numbers. At present, 7,000 farmers, predominantly dairy farmers, are availing of a higher stocking-rate allowance under the nitrates derogation. These derogation farmers are subject to stricter controls, such as mandatory nutrient-management planning and soil sampling, annual submission of fertiliser accounts and an increased level of field inspection.
To ensure that the objective of sustainable growth is achieved, innovative changes within the sector are needed, and these will require monitoring to assess their impacts. To respond to this challenge, a new targeted Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme is being put in place for the 2nd cycle RBMP to respond to the aforementioned emerging pressures (see Section 7.1.5).
7.1.4 High-Level Actions to Address Rural Diffuse and Point-Source Pollution
As set out in detail in Section 3, the Nitrates Regulations and associated Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) are the basic measures that this RBMP sets out for the protection of waters from pollution from agricultural sources. The primary focus is on preventing and reducing water pollution from nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) arising from agricultural sources. However, other complementary supporting measures are also necessary to further reduce pollution from agricultural sources. These complementary supporting measures are outlined below and include (1) knowledge- transfer initiatives to promote the adoption
of best environmental practices (2) the Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014–2020 (3) the Agricultural Catchment Programme (ACP) and (4) monitoring and modelling initiatives to assess the impact of sectoral changes on water quality.
The provisions of the Nitrates Regulations and
the associated measures outlined in the NAP will set the minimum environmental baseline that all Irish farmers must achieve. The Regulations were revised in December 2017 (S.I. 605 of 2017) following a review of the NAP. The new (4th) NAP includes measures aimed at further strengthening the protection of water and attaining a level of
soil fertility that is consistent both with efficient agricultural production and with effective water- quality protection. The new measures — which include fencing off cattle to protect watercourses, distancing of drinking points from watercourses and prohibiting direct discharges to watercourses from farm roadways — also focus on intercepting and breaking nutrient-transport pathways and preventing sediment and nutrient losses to waters.
GLAS is a targeted agri-environment scheme under the RDP, with a budget of €1.4 billion for the period 2014–2020 and 50,000 participating farmers. The objective of the scheme is to improve the rural environment by improving water
quality, mitigating climate change and promoting biodiversity. Actions taken to date — including fencing of watercourses (16,600 km) as well as the promotion of more widespread low-input farming (284,000ha.) and growing of catch crops (25,000 ha.) — are examples of key interventions at farm level that support the delivery of the next phase
of river basin planning. To receive full payment under the terms of the scheme, participating farmers must engage a trained agricultural adviser, participate in action-specific training and have an NMP in place. Unlike previous agri-environmental schemes that provided equal access to all farmers, GLAS prioritises farms in specific areas by means of key actions. Prioritisation of farms within vulnerable catchments and high-status water bodies is a key feature of the GLAS programme.
It is accepted that Ireland faces significant challenges in meeting water-
quality targets while increasing production in the agricultural sector, and a key recommendation of the Food Wise 2025 strategy is that the environmental impacts of the strategy should be monitored. The DAFM will work closely with relevant agencies to ensure that this monitoring takes place. In particular, the
ACP programme will model and monitor the impacts of agricultural development under Food Wise 2025 in specific catchments. The ACP will develop an integrated environmental-economic modelling system to identify the impacts of expansion under Food Wise 2025 and to advise on the overall costs and benefits associated with sustainable intensification practices at field, farm and catchment scales. Newtargeted initiatives will be developed as necessary to ensure that the sustainability objectives of Food Wise 2025 are met.
https://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/rbmp_full_reportweb.pdf
