Environmental Protection
We have a statutory responsibility for the quality of river water within its functional area. The Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts 1977 and 1990 and regulations made thereafter, including the Phosphorus Regulations (S.I. No. 258 of 1998 Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977 (Water Quality Standards for Phosphorus) Regulations, 1998) and the Nitrates Regulations (S.I. No. 378 of 2006 European Communities (Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Waters) Regulations 2006) , constitute the main national legislation in this regard.
Functions
Laois County Council's functions in relation to the above legislation include:
Monitoring the water quality of Laois's rivers. Farm Inspections and classification. The licensing and monitoring of wastewater discharges to surface waters and sewers. The monitoring of industrial activities that may have an effect on water quality. The promotion of "best practice" in the storage and disposal of agricultural, industrial and domestic wastewaters. Monitoring
Environment Section staff organise and carry out extensive environmental monitoring throughout the county. In addition to monitoring 48 river stations there are also monitoring programmes in place for the following:
Discharges from licensed facilities. sub-catchment and focus area sampling
Dangerous substances.
Urban Discharges.
Nitrates in groundwaters.
An additional sampling programme will commence in 2007, due to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (http://www.wfdireland.ie/).
This section also responds to pollution complaints (water pollution, air quality pollution and noise pollution) from members of the public. If you are aware of pollution within the county, please notify the Environment Section.
How to make an Environmental Complaint?
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has published a booklet entitled 'How to make an Environmental Complaint). This booklet explains who you should contact and what you can do to help resolve environmental problems.
See Something...Say Something
These booklets are available in English and Irish:
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