On 17 and 18 June 2020 the EPA held its National Water Event as an online conference. This year's theme was 'Restoring our waters'. This years event was free to attend. It was the EPA's largest water event ever, with over 1250 attending. To everyone who joined us: thanks for attending; thanks for your probing questions; thanks for your passion; thanks for caring about our waters. We can achieve more working together. Special thanks to all our presenters and the team who worked behind the scenes to make sure this years conference happened. For science and stories about water quality in Ireland, check out www.catchments.ie

1. Public Water Infrastructure:
Progress and Challenges
Sean Laffey
Irish Water – Head of Asset Management
EPA Water Conference 2020
Restoring our Waters

2. 2
Progress to Date
Treatment
Built or
upgraded 102
WWTP’s since
2014
Investment
Invested more
than €4bn in
water services
UWWTD
Compliance with
UWWTD
treatment from
39% in 2013 to
45% by end of
2020
WWDA
Increase from
33% compliance
with WWDA ELVs
in 2013 to 44%
by 2020

3. 3
Drainage Area Plans
DAPs will help us to:
 Understand the hydraulic
performance of the network
 Understand current and
future risks
 Identify solutions to mitigate
risks.
44 DAPs started - 30 complete
58 DAPs completed by 2024
Cost c€50m
Tranche 3

4. Untreated Agglomerations
4
44
Untreated
Agglomerations
listed by EPA in
2013
15
Untreated
Agglomerations
Complete
29
Agglomerations
Remaining
+ Additional 6 added by
EPA since 2014
Stopped
discharge of over
17MLD of raw
sewage (44% of
the total)

5. River Basin Management Plan 2018- 2021
• Supportive of the prioritisation
approach in the second cycle - 255
WWTPs:
– all significant pressures targeted in
Priority Areas for Action (51 No).
– 28 completed by 2021.
• Irish Water is delivering significant
investment and expect to have 124
WWTP upgrades completed by 2021.
• Supportive of the governance and
implementation structures that have
been set up – strong collaboration
established between stakeholders.

6. River Basin Management Plan – Third Cycle
• Significant investment in WWTP
upgrades in the 3rd cycle.
• Significant budget demands and our
Investment Plan for 2020 - 2024 is
now committed.
• We will be looking to see what
further measures we could provide
at modest cost targeted to achieve
best WFD outcomes.
• Strongly supportive of a targeted
prioritisation approach in order to
achieve best possible WFD
outcomes.

7. Opportunities to do more for less
Example One: Nature Based Solutions (NBS)
• Nature Based Solutions such as
constructed wetlands can provide
climate resilient, low carbon, low
opex solutions and also provide
biodiversity and social amenity
benefits.
• We are proposing a NBS
Research and Innovation
programme to:
• Gather robust evidence.
• Optimise a suite of NBS.
Layout of Lixnaw Integrated
Constructed Wetlands (ICW) in
County Kerry currently under
construction

8. Opportunities to do more for less
Example Two: Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI)
• There is a trend in cities worldwide
for the adoption of BGI
• Benefits include:
- climate resilience
- reduced flooding
- reduced SWO spills
- better air quality
- greener, more liveable
urban spaces
- supports compact growth
• We are engaging with LA and
Regional Assembly stakeholders to
see how we can collaborate and
support this approach.

9. Opportunities to do more for less
• We recognize that biodiversity is
essential for life and that urgent action
is required to address the current
Biodiversity Emergency.
• We have developed a Biodiversity
Action Alan (BAP) to help us to
conserve, enhance and work with
nature.
• This BAP identifies a range of
biodiversity enhancement measures to
be applied across our 7,000 sites in
collaboration with LA’s.
• Low cost and even cost saving
measures to make us more sustainable
Example Three: Biodiversity Action Plan

10. Irish Waters National Water Resources Plan
• 25 year strategy to ensure we have a sustainable,
secure and reliable drinking water supply for
everyone.
• Balance supply and demand for drinking water
over short, medium and long term.
• Assess amount of available water and demand for
this water now and into the future.
• Identifies ways to ensure there will be enough water
to meet these demands.
Why do we need it?
•European and national policy
•Water Framework Directive
•Standard practice for water utilities
•Water Services Strategic Plan
•Sets out clear Irish Water approach and targets

11. Capacity of supply chain
Complexity of delivering projects
Budget
Increased capital maintenance / emerging needs
Climate and Biodiversity emergencies
Impact of C19
11
Challenges

12. Thank you