Archived press release

Water Service discharges: DOE fails to expose pollution

20 December 2004

Friends of the Earth has accused DOE of failing in its role as environmental watchdog following the publication today of a report on Water Service pollution. The green pressure group criticised the Department's failure to list and describe the numerous sewage pollution incidents which occurred in 2002/3 and attribute them to a particular cause. Campaigner Lisa Fagan explained:

'Water Service enjoys Crown Immunity from prosecution, making it particularly important that this report be robust. But nowhere in this document does DOE list the various pollution incidents that occurred, explain their cause, or describe what remedial action was taken. Officials in DOE are clearly uneasy about criticising colleagues in Water Service, highlighting once again why the job of environmental regulation must be taken from them and given to a new independent Environmental Protection Agency.'

The recent debate about water charges has highlighted the need for investment in Northern Ireland's sewage infrastructure. Even where new sewage plant is in place, however, pollution incidents occur as a result of bad housekeeping by Water Service but DOE makes no distinction between these types of incident in its report.
Friends of the Earth has also described as 'misleading' the press release which accompanied this morning's report. The pressure group accused the Department of covering up the true extent of Water Service failure to comply with pollution legislation. Spokesperson Lisa Fagan claimed the compliance figures given in the press release were meaningless:

'Water Service must comply with two sets of pollution standards: tough European ones and easy-peasy domestic ones. It's only the European standards that matter but in this morning's press release, DOE has quoted compliance levels with the domestic standards [1]. In sparing the blushes of their Water Service colleagues, the Department is misleading the public about the true extent of Water Service failure. Our sewage infrastructure is inadequate - we knew that - but what this report tells us is that our environmental watchdog is also inadequate.'

Notes

[1] For 2003, compliance levels with domestic standards was 70% but compliance with European standards was just 60%. The 70% figure is quoted in the press release but the 60% figure can only be found in the report.

Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
7 Donegall Street Place
BELFAST
BT1 2FN
Tel: 028 9023 3488
Fax: 028 9024 7556
Email: foe-ni@foe.co.uk.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust