ONLY ABOUT one in 10 septic tanks based around rivers, lakes and streams will be inspected under new Government regulations, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said yesterday.
Mr Hogan described suggestions that “massive numbers of people” are going to be inspected and face upgrading bills of as much as €20,000 as “a load of nonsense”.
Speaking at a National Federation of Group Water Schemes conference in Co Westmeath, Mr Hogan said he had been negotiating with the European Commission in 2011 and 2012 to minimise the impact of new septic tank regulations.
“I inherited a situation where the proposals were that every septic tank was going to be inspected. You were going to have to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency standards of 2009 and sure, if that was implemented, half the place would fail,” he said.
Mr Hogan said what is required now is a comprehensive register of septic tanks along with a licensing and monitoring system.
“What I have achieved in the European Commission negotiations is . . . a very reasonable approach towards dealing with the judgment.
“A once-off registration charge and no annual inspection charges and a risk-based approach which means that about one in 10 of all of the septic tanks based around rivers, lakes and streams will be inspected,” he said.