Debate contribution: Water Supply

Debate contribution by Mr John O'Dowd on 16 September 2024.

MLA

Mr John O'Dowd

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

16 September 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Question for Urgent Oral Answer

Heading

Water Supply

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4532371

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Let me emphasise this again: NI Water has confirmed to me that the water coming out of our taps is safe to drink and use. My home is impacted on by this. I use the water in my home and have young children, and I obviously do not want it to impact on my health. I accept that there is an unpleasant taste and smell for drinking-water purposes. Some people may wish to have bottled water or other water for that purpose. For all other purposes, the water is safe, and it is safe to drink as well. As for which chemicals are used, I will follow up in writing to the Member. NI Water has a very robust regime in place to ensure that the water that comes out of our taps is safe to drink. I recently visited one of its water treatment processing plants and was impressed by the nature of the studious activity that was going on to ensure that we are supplied with clean drinking water daily. The strong taste and odour that people are getting at the moment is not from a chemical but from a naturally occurring compound in the water. It is a timely reminder to us all, if we needed it, that we need to look after our natural resources. We need to look after Lough Neagh. We need to ensure that the action plan that was published by the AERA Minister is advanced and enacted and that we tackle not just the years but the decades of neglect of Lough Neagh. While algae continue to bloom on the lough, NI Water faces considerable challenges in producing clean drinking water for us, but it is producing clean drinking water for us.

I am satisfied with the assurances that I have received from NI Water on the quality of our drinking water. As I said, my home was impacted by this, and I am using the water in my home. I accept — I do not dismiss — anyone's concerns. It is a genuine concern: if you turn on your tap and there is a foul odour coming out of it, you rightly ask questions and rightly contact elected representatives and NI Water. The water is inspected by NI Water. It is inspected and regulated by the independent drinking water authority as well. NI Water is liaising with the Environment Agency and councils in that regard, so we can give ourselves a number of independent assurances that the water coming out of our taps in some areas, even if it has a foul odour, is safe to use.

I commit to working with the AERA Minister; indeed, the Executive have committed to working with the AERA Minister. I note that the action plan is also referenced in the draft Programme for Government. It is abundantly clear to us all that the abuse of our natural environment over decades is coming back to haunt us. As I said, the ongoing blue-green algae blooms in Lough Neagh present challenges to NI Water in producing fresh, clean drinking water. We are receiving fresh, clean, safe drinking water through our taps, but we have to take on the challenge of where the odour and smell are coming from. They come from the algae in the lough. That presents huge problems to the environment and biodiversity of Lough Neagh. It is right and proper that other Ministers and I support the AERA Minister in his action plan to take that on.

The Member is absolutely correct. One of the causes of the algae blooms in Lough Neagh is foul water entering the lough in too high a concentration and too often. I am working with my Executive colleagues to increase the funding available to NI Water to upgrade the relevant water treatment works. I am looking at changing the legislation on developer contributions. Recently, I also had a policy passed at the Executive to allow me to go forward and draft legislation on sustainable drainage, so that we work with nature instead of against nature in how we separate and deal with storm water etc. That is so that we can store it and release it into the system more slowly than has been the case. When it is released more slowly into the system, it does not overrun at our waste water treatment works. Three steps are at play at the moment. I am thankful that my Executive colleagues are working with me on the budgetary issue. As I say, the other issues are moving forward as well.

I welcome the opportunity presented by the question for urgent oral answer to, once again, reaffirm that message: water is safe to drink and use. As I said, rigorous tests are carried out on water daily at source, through the treatment stage and at customers' taps. If any customer has continuing concerns about their water, they should report those directly to NI Water. In fairness to NI Water, it will not be able to go to everyone's homes to test water directly from the tap, but it is taking sample tests in the affected areas, and those are being tested as well. As I said, my home has been impacted, and I am using the water. I understand people's genuine concerns — I am not dismissing any of them — but the water is safe to drink.

I put it this way to the Member: we have all contributed to it. We have all taken the lough for granted for far too long, and we are now seeing the consequences of that. What is NI Water doing? NI Water needs the resources and support to upgrade its waste water treatment works, where required. I am working with NI Water to ensure that every penny that we spend is used as efficiently and effectively as possible. I am working with my Executive colleagues to secure further funding for NI Water. I mentioned the sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) Bill to one of our colleagues earlier. It looks not only at holding back floodwater and releasing it into the system more slowly but at another issue that causes significant damage to our environment: wrong or illegal connections, where foul water runs into storm drains. That can happen if an extension is put on a property, if a washing machine is put in a garage or whatever it may be. The legislation will allow NI Water to work with the property owner, so that either the property owner will correct that connection or NI Water will correct it and charge the property owner for that mis-connection. We are taking a number of steps. As I said, we have all taken Lough Neagh for granted for far too long. We have to stop doing that.

As I previously outlined, working with my Executive colleagues is part of the long-term plan. Unfortunately, we have been dealing with one-year Budgets over a period, which makes it difficult for a Minister, the Executive or, in this case, a government-owned company to plan for the future with real certainty. Hopefully, that will change after the current spending round. Working with nature is also a way forward. We will need hard engineering solutions; there is no question about that. We will need tens of millions of pounds to put those hard engineering solutions in place, but we also have to work with nature and ensure that we use it through SuDS or other measures to contain the deluges that we face as a result of climate change. We will work on legislation and see whether we need to change legislation and what that will look like to allow for developer contributions to waste water treatment works, pumping stations or whatever it may be. We need to ensure that houses, factories and schools are built, and that they are connected to a system that is safe, secure and environmentally robust.

Any investment strategy has to include an investment strategy for NI Water. It will not work without NI Water having access to the resources that it requires or that can be delivered during an investment strategy period. Those discussions are ongoing.

In fairness to my Executive colleagues and the main players in the debate, everyone recognises that NI Water needs more resources, but it is competing against Health, Education and all those things. We have to work together to map out a way forward. As I said in response to a number of questions today, there is a three-pronged strategy: having more direct investment in NI Water, seeing what new legislation on developer contributions might look like, and working with nature through programmes and the provisions in the SuDS Bill.

Let me be clear: there is independent assurance about the water. NI Water does its tests; the independent drinking water inspectorate carries out tests; we work with our colleagues in NIEA who carry out tests; and local councils can carry out tests. The water is robustly tested to assure citizens that, if they are connected to the public system, it is safe to turn on their tap and that clean drinking water will come out of it. I am happy to support an independent environmental protection agency. To be perfectly honest, I do not know what role such an agency would have in testing water. It may be another layer, but if that would assure the Member, let us have another one. I am satisfied that there is sufficient independence around the testing of our water quality for me to stand here and reassure our constituents and myself that we can use the water that is coming out of our taps.

I suspect that it will depend on the weather. I understand that we are in for a number of mild days. Mild weather encourages algae blooms in the lough, which last for a period of time. That means that we have to deal with that when we take water out of the lough through our water treatment works. I cannot give you a timescale. A reduction in temperature and, unfortunately, some rain and wind are required to break up the algae blooms. That will allow us to move ahead and take water out of the lough without such an input of algae blooms. We will, however, come back to this next year and in the years after that. Even fully committing, as I do, to the action plan published by the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister, we are involved in a long-term challenge here. We all have to recognise that. As I said, it might be a timely reminder to us all that we cannot take Lough Neagh for granted.

On the first point, under the current legislation, developers cannot make significant contributions to waste water treatment works etc. I am looking at the legislation to see whether we need to amend it through primary legislation. I do not have a definitive policy position or legislative outline at the moment. If we go down that route, it will have to go through the Committee and the Assembly. We can set up an independent review of the funding for NI Water, but it will not solve the problem within the time frame that we need to solve it. The equation is quite simple. NI Water needs more money, so you can go down a number of routes to get it. You can privatise, which the Executive and the Assembly are opposed to. You can mutualise, which would lead to domestic water bills, and, as far as I am aware, most of the parties in the Assembly, if not all of them, are opposed to that. You can fund NI Water through direct taxation, which we do with the funds that are available to the Executive. You can look at developer contributions and at working with nature. As I said, I have a three-pronged approach to the matter. We are not sitting back hoping or crossing our fingers. My Executive colleagues are on board, the legislation is being looked at and the Executive have passed a policy paper allowing me to draft legislation on working with nature and correcting those misconnections that are also causing so much damage to the system.

On the point about water testing, I suggest that it is probably best if customers allow NI Water to take the water directly from the tap. If you put it into a container, the container may already be contaminated with another substance. The longer that it sits, the higher the chance that it may upset the testing. So, if a customer has concerns, it is probably best if they contact NI Water directly and samples are taken at source. You are spot on about planting trees and working with the network of streams and rivers and about the run-off that comes into Lough Neagh from a very wide geographical area. That goes back to my point about working with nature rather than against it. I note that the action plan includes proposals on that. I also note and welcome the work of organisations such as the Lough Neagh Partnership, which works with farmers along the lough shore and has been carrying out great work for many years there by fencing off areas, keeping cattle away and planting trees. You talked about planting bushes and shrubbery. As I said, there will have to be hard engineering solutions in and around the lough and elsewhere, it has to be said, but there are also solutions in nature that we need to explore.

I see this as a solution, and it is the job of a Minister to bring forward solutions. Any legislation that I introduce will have to go through, first, the Executive and secondly, the rigours of the Assembly. One of those rigours will be the Committee. The Member is absolutely right that developers can make contributions, but those contributions are for separating foul water from storm water. In many of our areas, we have an antiquated system whereby we bring storm water and foul water through the same pipes, and that leads to the overrun that is in many of our waste water treatment works. Developers now can pay for the separation of those waters where it suits the solution in that area. I am talking about broadening that and allowing developers to do it. You can put whatever terminology on it that you like. It is not about me poking developers in the eye, by the way. It is about me bringing forward proposals in the recognition of the stringent financial circumstances that the Executive are under. When I look at Labour's plans for cutting further billions from public spending, I can sit back and moan about that — I am very good at moaning — but I can also look at solutions, and this is part of my proposals around those solutions. It will hopefully allow houses, factories and schools to be built. At the end of the day, a developer will have to make a decision as to whether it is commercially viable for them to do so, as each one will have a separate cost to it, but the Assembly will have the final say on it.

2,543 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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