Water Pollution: Commission moves against Ireland

Brussels, 25 January 2001
The European Commission has decided to proceed to the European Court of Justice against Ireland for non-respect of the European Union's 1976 Dangerous Substances Directive and has also decided to notify a Reasoned Opinion (second warning letter) to Ireland for non-respect of the 1991 Nitrates Directive. The decision on the 1976 Directive relates to general failures concerning required pollution reduction programmes for dangerous substances, as well as specific weaknesses in Irish measures for phosphorous, the substance which gives greatest concern for Irish water quality. The decision on the 1991 Directive relates to Ireland's failure to designate vulnerable zones for waters polluted by nitrates from agriculture and to adopt corresponding preventive and clean-up measures. There is similar action under way against other Member States. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström commented: "I am concerned that Ireland is the only Member State not to have yet notified any nitrate vulnerable zones, and would urge the Irish authorities to take the necessary steps as soon as possible, including action for nitrate-polluted groundwaters on which small rural communities depend for their drinking water. As regards the 1976 Dangerous Substances Directive, I would also urge the Irish authorities to do more. For the most important substance, phosphorous, Irish measures are moving in the right direction, but need to go further. ".

The Community's Dangerous Substances Directive (Council Directive 76/464/EEC on pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic environment of the Community) was one of the first pieces of Community environmental quality legislation. It creates a framework for dealing with the pollution of water caused by an extensive list of dangerous substances, including biocides, heavy metals and the nutrient, phosphorous. Under this framework, Member States are required to adopt pollution reduction programmes involving binding water quality objectives and a system of authorisations for discharges. The Commission has already successfully brought a number of Member States to the European Court of Justice for non-compliance with the Directive. The Court has confirmed the need for pollution-reduction programmes to be specific, comprehensive and co-ordinated.

The case against Ireland relates to a general failure to adopt pollution reduction programmes in line with the Directive for most of the substances covered by the Directive. For example, no binding water quality objectives appear to have been adopted for heavy metals and biocides, although the Commission had understood these to be under preparation. Moreover, Irish local authorities enjoy an unjustified exemption from the need for authorisation of their discharges, and, despite recent legislation, there is still no clear requirement that authorisation of discharges from Irish marine fish farms should be based on water quality objectives.

The case against Ireland also relates to the substance, phosphorous, which is mainly responsible for the decline in Irish lake and river quality in recent years. Despite some recent positive developments - Ireland's1997 adoption of phosphorous quality objectives, the 1999 preparation by Irish local authorities of reports on the measures to achieve these objectives, and the recent Irish Environmental Protection Agency over-view of these reports - there are some serious shortcomings. The quality objectives in some cases have the effect of creating unjustified official tolerance for a decline in water quality between the 1970s and the late 1990s. There has also been a failure to effectively tackle farmyard discharges of phosphorous, or to authorise aerial discharges of phosphorous for forestry. Moreover, the measures reports are not fully comprehensive and co-ordinated.

Reasoned Opinion on Nitrate Directive

The Nitrates Directive (Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources) aims to curb the introduction of excessive levels of nitrates into surface waters and groundwaters from agricultural fertilizers and wastes. Excessive nitrate levels cause undesirable ecological changes in water and are a factor in harmful algal blooms. They also have adverse public health implications where people have to rely on drinking water with high nitrate levels.

The directive required Member States to carry out monitoring of surface waters and groundwater, identify nitrate-polluted waters, and designate vulnerable zones (i.e. zones draining into nitrate-polluted waters) by December 1993. Action programmes for such zones were required to be established by December 1995 in order to control nitrate pollution from agricultural sources. Member States have the option of applying these action programmes throughout their territory.

For several years, Ireland argued that it did not have any nitrate-polluted waters for purposes of the Directive. However, the Commission's information is that there are examples of nitrate-polluted waters in all the main categories found in the Directive, i.e. groundwaters and surface waters with high and/or rising nitrate levels, and eutrophic freshwaters and marine waters. While Ireland appears to have recently accepted the need for nitrate vulnerable zones, it remains the only Member State not to have designated or notified any. Moreover, information received by the Commission indicates that the Irish authorities are taking an unjustifiably restrictive approach, for example proposing to exclude nitrate-polluted groundwaters providing drinking water for small populations in an area where pig-production (and consequent land-spreading of nitrate-containing wastes) is proposed to grow. It may be noted that the United Kingdom has recently been condemned by the European Court for excluding groundwater not used for drinking water from the scope of its implementation of the Directive.

The above decisions reflect the Commission's commitment to ensuring that the necessary legislative and practical measures to curb water pollution are fully established across the Community