Government trying to dodge the bullet on water pollution.
The recent announcement by Phil Hogan, Minister for the Environment and Local Government on the implementation of a septic tank inspection programme is dodging the real problem which exists in Ireland in relation to water pollution.
At the same conference where these remarks were made, an official from the Environmental Protection Agency, commented that the major contributor's to water pollution in Ireland is municipal waste water treatment and to a lesser degree agricultural waste.
Perhaps Minister Hogan knows the great extent of the problems with urban water pollution and the vast investment it would take it rectify the situation, and would prefer to only vaguely address the issue.
The proposed septic tank inspection programme would undoubtedly come to the same fate as many local authority water schemes for farms. These schemes required the installation of water meters to be undertaken by local authority's at a cost three or four times that of the same installation when undertaken privately. This eventually led to a mass protest against water metering in general.
Minister Hogan’s proposals will create a deep divide between rural and urban communities, with the former paying for the latter. The scheme itself would most certainly become a bureaucratic mess, with service men and inspectors required to maintain the system not to mention the vast administration costs required for the implementation of such a scheme. It would place yet another burden on households who already face the possibility of water and waste charges, coupled with the recent increases which all household's have fallen victim to as both gas and electricity prices have reached serious high's.
I believe that this scheme should be opposed en masse, as the thought of paying to have toilet facilities is exorbitant and borderline comical.
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