The role of ICT in Water

Regulation

Dara Lynott BE, MSc, PE, Ceng, FIEI

Deputy Director General

EPA

What does the EPA do?

Risk based and outcome focussed Regulation

• Licensing

• Enforcement

• Guidance

Evidence base for decision making Knowledge • Monitoring and Assessment

• Research

• Reporting

Mobilise society to become low-carbon and resource efficient Advocacy • Education

• Awareness Raising

• Behavioural Change

The role of ICT in the EPA

The EPA is an information-based organisation and has

always benefitted from the application of ICT to its business

processes. The availability of high quality, timely information

is critical to the operations of the EPA and to the EPA‟s

many stakeholders (government, EU, industry, NGO‟s,

citizens etc.) and this can be greatly facilitated by the smart

application of information technology.

ICT – Key Benefits

Modernisation of systems and architecture. Reduced maintenance of many IT systems

Timeliness and quality of data all improved which should lead to more streamlined work practices and a better service

Receipt of all incoming information as electronic data via webforms.

Automated risk determination and notifications for the regulated community.

Develop a greater understanding of the outcomes of Agency work.

Automated reporting (Internal & EU).

Existing systems

Knowledge

Single portal

Monitoring and Assessment

River flows and levels

EPA Research

2007-2010 (€ Millions)

Provides details of:

Project

Abstract

Expected end date

Link to the final report

http://erc.epa.ie/smartsimple/

Reporting

707.3

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762.4

742.5

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660

680

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740

760

780

2007 2008 2009 2010

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Annual E-PRTR Total Phosphorous Emissions to Water (2007-2010) Reportable to Europe and Sectoral Contribution

UWWTP Chemical Annual E-PRTR Total phosphorus Emission (T/yr)

Regulation

Wastewater

Risk Assessment

Assesses risk on the basis of five attributes:

1. Level of Treatment (Complexity)

2. Observed Impacts (real time)

3. Possible Impact (Location)

4. Discharge Compliance (Emissions)

5. Enforcement Record

Risk assessment methodology for wwtp’a

Makes 35,000 decisions everytime it is run

DREAM: Screen shot of enforcement categories

DREAM: Screen shot of a single WWTP

DREAM: Screen shot of a single WWTP

Groundwater

New S22 Register Home Page

Regulatory Networks with Sharepoint

Advococy

Total visits for epa.ie

Q2 2012 Q2 2011

Visits to website 785,226 325,637

Average Time on Site (minutes) 1.54 4.00

Average number of pages accessed per

visit

3.46 5.71

Daily traffic on the site follows broadly similar patterns to other state

agencies, with traffic on weekdays about four times higher than on

Saturdays or Sundays.

Synchronised video and

powerpoint

http://twitter.com/

130 presentations

In conclusion

Bridging the Gap conferences (1998-2008)

Two main strands of concern identified

1. The need for systems for the collection, analysis and

presentation of environmental data to be more efficient and

effective in meeting the needs of stakeholders.

2. The ways in which we can enable science to play a more

effective role in supporting policy-making processes

Bridging the Gap conclusions

Bridging the Gap conferences (1998-2008)

Remaining gaps identified

1. Need to measure different things for example the human

quality of life and its relationship with natural resources.

2. Need to further develop monitoring systems.

3. Interpreters can play an important role in facilitating

interactions between science and policy considerations.

4. More need to be done to enable inter-institutional

collaboration.

Thank You