Debate contribution: NI Water Challenges

Debate contribution by Mr Keith Buchanan on 8 April 2024.

MLA

Mr Keith Buchanan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

8 April 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

NI Water Challenges

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4481729

Read the official Assembly record

Text

First, I apologise for referring to the Minister as a Member. He is technically a Member, but I apologise for that. I rise in support of the motion and our amendment. As we heard, NI Water is one of Northern Ireland's largest landowners, and it incorporates water treatment works, pumping stations, waste water treatment works and a vast network of water mains and sewers. NI Water supplies approximately 910,000 homes and businesses. Over many years, there has been a failure to address the underinvestment in our waste water infrastructure, and that has severely hampered economic development and housebuilding in every part of Northern Ireland. Without the necessary investment in the network, there is reduced building work. As time passes without a sustainable approach to meeting the current demand for connection to the network, there are further infrastructure restrictions. There are several examples of that restricting economic growth in Mid Ulster, and I am sure that other MLAs are aware of many more problems that building contractors encounter when development is hampered. In some cases, the contractor can get a connection to the foul system by reducing the volume of storm that enters it by a multiplication of 12. That means that, for every litre of foul water that is added to the system, 12 litres need to be removed and diverted to a storm connection or waterway at considerable cost. In the middle of a town or a built-up area, that can be challenging. In other examples, planning approval is given but no foul solution is available, and the developer builds the homes only for the homeowner to find out later that their dwelling has no formal sewerage connection available to it. Without the proper investment to support business expansion and new homes being built, there will be missed opportunities to boost employment in the construction sector and provide for need. When it comes to addressing the crisis in capacity or, at a bare minimum, mitigating the current problems, a joined-up approach is vital. Any investment that is provided must be targeted to maximise added value and be screened against the potential to promote regional inequalities. We acknowledge the need to place more value on water and to take personal responsibility for the potential impact of our actions. We acknowledge that preventative measures need to be taken to reduce pollutants entering our waterways, and that will help to address the money that is spent on removing them through water treatment afterwards. No one disputes the fact that there is still some way to go to ensure that all sectors mitigate the risk to water quality. However, the causes of the current problems go much further than to one sector alone. A series of questions was recently asked to the Minister on discharge points, and other Members touched on this. How are we measuring the water discharge volume — I mean the dissolved oxygen demand and the chemical oxygen demand — that goes into the water? Obviously, that needs to be monitored. Another Member referred to 75 tons of sewage. How do we know that 75 tons of sewage were discharged into the water? There is no way of measuring that. The Northern Ireland Audit Office report is clear that ongoing leakage from sewers is contributing to pollution in our rivers and lakes. The same level of accountability should be apparent in NI Water, yet there is a perception, rightly or wrongly, that there is a double standard. Does the Minister believe that discharge from combined sewers should be routinely monitored and recorded in order to get the exact figure and so that we know what the actual volume of liquid is when we have combined flow discharges into our rivers that, obviously, ultimately end up in Lough Neagh? Will the Minister ensure that there is a greater focus on surveilling where NI Water leaks occur, how often they occur and their impact? I will now briefly move on —.

Yes.

Thanks for that. I missed the number: was it 700?

Yes. On that point, when Sara Venning was here, she referred to thousands of combined flow discharges. I appreciate that 700 is a step in the right direction. I will briefly go through some points. Mike Nesbitt touched on the ageing network — a third of the pipes are 100 years old — and mentioned the housing shortfall. Deborah also mentioned social and affordable homes. The restriction of sewerage obviously affects homes more broadly. She also referred to overflows in the system. Cathal talked about development challenges. Patrick Brown talked about treatment works being at capacity. All those points relate to development and building. The costs are obviously added on to homebuyers. If any developer says that they will take the full whack of that cost, I do not believe it. The developer will pass it on to some degree to the homebuyer. Mark Durkan talked about a joint departmental approach and said that there should be no increase in charges. Peter McReynolds referred to a Victorian sewerage network. Patsy also talked about not having water charges and the increased cost for homeowners. Stephen talked about housing as well. I will have to bring my remarks to an end. Thank you.

871 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not qualifying

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:00 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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