To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to outline (i) what monitoring requirements the Northern Ireland Environment Agency places on consented sewage discharges; and (ii) whether there are plans to strengthen these.

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) regulates wastewater discharges by assessing the quality of the wastewater discharged against set conditions and standards within the Water (NI) Order Discharge Consent. Compliance and monitoring requirements are dependent on the nature of the consented wastewater treatment operation, but in general they include; targeted site inspections, operator self-monitoring and reporting. Sites are also routinely sampled as part of NIEA’s sampling rota in respect of compliance monitoring. Small discharges are not routinely monitored but remain subject to compliance with consent conditions. NIEA uses all available data to assess compliance against the conditions of the Discharge Consent. In situations where non-compliances are identified, enforcement action may be taken in line with DAERA’s enforcement policy.

NIEA, through its Wastewater Regulatory Reform programme, will continue to review and update its consenting methods to ensure appropriate measures are in place, through Water Order discharge consents, to protect the environment.