Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | JUNE 2016 | 5 Water charging in Ireland to be suspended in political deal Irish Water's charging of customers is to be suspended for at least the remainder of the year following a political deal to create a new minority government in the Republic. As part of the deal between rival parties Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, charging will be suspended until an independent commission has reported back on the best way to fund water services in the country. The commission is expected to take around nine months to report. There are also set to be changes to Irish Water's governance, with it becoming a directly accountable state agency rather than a subsidiary of Bord Gais. The deal followed the closely contested election on February 26th, in which the future of Irish Water was a central issue. Fianna Fáil and its leader Micheál Martin campaigned on the platform of abolishing the utility and its system of water charges. By contrast, Fine Gael, whose leader Enda Kenny is the new Taoiseach, wanted to retain water charging. During the negotiations that followed the election, a potential compromise emerged involving a system of allowances and waivers to exempt groups such as pensioners and social welfare recipients from having to pay charges. This will now be explored by the commission. Irish Water was created in January 2014, taking overall responsibility for water services which had previously been delivered by 34 local authorities across Ireland. Its metering programme, which has seen over 800,000 domestic properties fitted with meters, has proved unpopular with the public, as has the imposition of water charges for the first time. Speaking at WWT's Water Ireland conference in Dublin, held on April 21 and sponsored by Atkins, Public Water Forum chair Tom Collins said that public outrage about domestic charging had been fuelled by a lack of clear communication on the issues. He said that public education was paramount and more should have been made of the environmental reasons for funding water investment. "Democracy cannot afford thoughtlessness on environmental issues, and water above all, which leads me to take the view that public education, information and debate around water is critical but is also incredibly messy." Polluters pay VOX POP "If we cannot get a common position out of the EU [on microbeads], we are open to the possibility of the UK acting unilaterally." Rory Stewart, Environment minister "Democracy cannot afford thoughtlessness on environmental issues, and water above all." Tom Collins, Public Water Forum, Ireland "The concept is for an integrated water, waste and resource recovery system, delivering products sustainably and resiliently," Jon Brigg, Yorkshire Water Innovation Manager Microbead ban considered The UK government is considering a ban on the use of plastic microbeads in cosmetics because of their effect on aquatic environments, environment minister Rory Stewart has said. The tiny pieces of plastic, used as an abrasive ingredient in facial scrubs and similar products, have long attracted the ire of environmental campaigners because they do not biodegrade when they enter rivers and the sea, and are therefore ingested by fish and marine animals. They are typically too small to be screened or removed from wastewater during treatment processes. A proposal for a ban has already been put to the European Commission, but Stewart said that whatever the outcome the UK government may act unilaterally on the issue. "If we cannot get a common position out of the European Union, we are open to the possibility of the UK acting unilaterally," Stewart told MPs. Ouse pollution costs Yorkshire Water £1.1M Yorkshire Water has been hit with a £1.1M fine for illegally discharging sewage that polluted the River Ouse near York. The fine – the largest penalty so far given to a water company following an Environment Agency prosecution – was handed down by Leeds Crown Court. Yorkshire Water admitted three environmental offences relating to the pollution incident at Naburn Sewage Treatment Works, near Fulford, in 2013. The court heard that a pump failure at the works exposed the fact that the backup pump was not operational, having been out of use for five months. This led to 6,000 cubic metres of sewage flowing through an outfall into the river. Meat firm penalised for ammonia spill A Lincolnshire meat processing firm has been fined £15,300 and ordered to pay more than £9,000 in costs for polluting a 3.5km stretch of local watercourse. Hughes and Son (Skellingthorpe) Ltd, of Jerusalem Farm, Skellingthorpe, pleaded guilty to a breach of Environmental Permitting Regulations for allowing effluent to flow into a tributary of the Skellingthorpe Catchwater Drain, resulting in extremely high levels of ammonia in the water. Lanes prosecuted over hydrant use Lanes Group plc has been successfully prosecuted by Sutton and East Surrey Water (SESW) for illegally filling tankers with water from the utility's hydrants while working on a contract for Thames Water. Redhill Magistrates Court fined Lanes Group £5,120 in total a er the company pleaded guilty to six offences. Lanes Group operatives were caught on camera filling tankers on two separate occasions in autumn 2015.