Grant Assistance Available Details Announced for Septic Tanks Remediation
Mr. Phil Hogan T.D., Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, has announced that he has signed regulations to provide for grant assistance for householders whose septic tanks are deemed to require remediation following an inspection under the EPA’s National Inspection Plan.
- The grants scheme will apply only where a domestic waste water treatment system failed an inspection carried out under the 2012 legislation and where the treatment system had been registered by the due date of 1 February 2013.
- Regulations have also been signed providing for an exemption from planning permission for works arising from an inspection under the National Inspection Plan.
Training of qualified local authority staff and their formal appointment as inspectors by the EPA is underway. The National Inspection Plan provides that a minimum of 1,000 inspections will take place nationally between now and July 2014.
As part of the inspection, treatment systems will be examined to ensure that they are not posing a risk to public health or the environment through leakage or discharges to the surface of the ground or into nearby ditches. There will also be checks to ensure that regulations regarding roof and surface water as well as grey water are complied with.