River Pollution (Hansard, 26 January 1998)

§ Mr. Paul Murphy

Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Environment and Heritage Service, under its chief executive Mr. Robert C. Martin. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Robert C. Martin to Mr. David Trimble, dated 26 January 1998: As Chief Executive of Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), I am responsible for all operational aspects of the environmental policies of the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. I am responding to the Parliamentary Question which you put down on 27 January 1998 regarding the criteria used to measure pollution in rivers, and the rivers which fail to meet standards. EHS assesses the quality of approximately 2,400 kilometres of rivers in Northern Ireland by sampling and analysing water at just under 300 monitoring stations. On the basis of the analysis results, the waters are classified as of Very Good, Good, Fairly Good, Fair, 24W Poor or Bad quality. The classification system employed is the General Quality Assessment (GQA) drawn up by the Environment Agency for England and Wales. The policy of EHS with regard to river quality is generally to manage river systems so that water quality is at least Fair under the Chemical GQA system with no downward movement between classes, and to maintain or improve water quality as required by national policy, EC Directives and international agreements. This policy was published in the report River Quality in Northern Ireland 1995 (paragraph 11). A copy of the report is attached. The Chemical GQA scheme is explained in Appendix 1 of the report. Under the terms of the EC Directive on the quality of fresh waters needing protection or improvement in order to support fish life (the 'Freshwater Fish Directive', 78/659/EEC), approximately 1,200 kilometres of rivers have been designated as salmonid (suitable for game fish) or cyprinid (suitable for coarse fish). Designated waters are required to comply with the quality standards set out in Annex 1 of the Directive. A copy of the Directive is attached. In 1996, the most recent year for which data have been processed, 88 per cent of the length of rivers monitored was of Fair quality or better. Appendix A lists those rivers or reaches which fell below GQA Fair quality. Also in 1996, 72 per cent of the length of designated rivers complied with the requirements of the Freshwater Fish Directive. Appendix B lists those designated rivers or reaches which failed to comply. I trust you will find this reply helpful.