Minister welcomes water quailty reports

Regional Development Minister, Conor Murphy, welcomed the drinking water quality report published by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

The report “Drinking Water Quality in Northern Ireland, 2007”, found that there continues to be an improvement in overall compliance with samples taken from water treatment works, service reservoirs and consumers taps.

Speaking after the publication of the report, Minister Murphy said: “The report shows continuing improvement in the overall quality of our drinking water and I welcome the high levels of compliance that are being achieved. There is still room for improvement in some areas and we must not be complacent about the effort and investment needed to maintain our high standards of water quality”.

The report provides details on how our drinking water measures up against the regulatory standards and acknowledges the need for ongoing work to improve compliance in some areas. This requires ongoing investment in infrastructure.

The report shows that the overall drinking water quality for 2007 at consumers’ taps was 99.30%.

Commenting on this, the Minister said: “The investment we are making will sustain the safe provision of drinking water and is necessary to improve quality further. NI Water is currently upgrading five of its major water treatment works and bringing them into supply towards the end of this year. I welcome the improvements in drinking water quality that this, together with other ongoing investment in infrastructure, will bring.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Drinking Water Inspectorate operates as a unit within the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, part of the Department of the Environment. The Inspectorate has been appointed by the Department for Regional Development to carry out its regulatory functions relating to the quality of public water supplies. It continues to act on behalf of the Department of the Environment in respect of private water supplies.

2. The Inspectorate’s role is to regulate drinking water quality in the north for both public and private water supplies. The Inspectorate has an independent responsibility to assess and regulate compliance against the regulatory requirements.

3. During 2007, the period which is covered by this report, Water Service was an executive agency within the Department for Regional Development. Water Service (since 1 April 2007 Northern Ireland Water [NI Water], a government-owned company) is responsible for the supply and distribution of public drinking water in the north.

4. The report will be published as a PDF file on the Inspectorate’s website: http://www.ni-environment.gov.uk/water/drinkwater/annual_reports.htm

5. For Media and Press enquiries, contact DRD Press Office, Tel: 028 9054 0887. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.