Water Service sewage discharge improvement

A DOE report has found that sewage discharge is improving in Northern Ireland.

The Regulation of Water Service Discharges 2005 Report, which was published today by the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) has concluded that while compliance with EHS standards has improved significantly from 58% in 2001 to 82% in 2005, there is still some way to go before Northern Ireland achieves the 95% compliance reached in England and Wales.

Commenting on this, Environment Minister David Cairns said: "I am pleased to note that there has been improvement in compliance since 2001 as a result of considerable investment by Water Service. In 2005, £131 million was invested in waste water treatment and infrastructure to improve performance. In the rest of the UK this level of funding is generated from the local water charge. For Northern Ireland to continue to grow and prosper in the same way as the rest of the UK, households will need to pay a similar amount. This will allow us to finance the continued, sustained investment required to reach the compliance levels achieved in the rest of the UK.”

From April 2007 Water Service will become a Government Owned Company (GoCo) and Northern Ireland’s water and sewerage services would be self-financing from 2009/10.

(EF)