The Environmental Protection Agency's annual drinking water quality report contains no dramatic revelations.
However, it will be analysed closely by the European Commission in the action it takes against Ireland over the issue and is further evidence of the need to improve rural water supplies.
The possibility of further contamination from burial of BSE-infected animal carcasses has heightened fears about water quality. It is an issue which is beyond the remit of this report.
However, in a new departure, the EPA includes a commentary which aims to place public concerns in context, according to its author, Dr Paddy Flanagan.
On chlorine, for instance, the commentary notes that it is toxic, but says there is no risk of chlorine poisoning from drinking water which has been so disinfected. "By the time a water could be regarded as directly hazardous from excess chlorine, it would taste and smell foul, and be utterly repellent to the consumer," it says.
On fluoridation, it notes that Ireland's limit is two-thirds of the permissible level elsewhere in the EU, and welcomes the forum to review fluoridation established by the Minister for Health and Children. The report also addresses the issue of trihalomethanes (THM), which are synthetic compounds that derive from the use of chlorine as a disinfectant.
Recognising the need to limit them, it states THM compounds have been present in drinking water for over a century and that improvements in water treatment over the years have reduced the degree of exposure to consumers.
The report highlights deficiencies in group water schemes but says it doesn't wish to "demonise" the "many committed people" who run the schemes. "Rather, it is to underline the fact that the public schemes distribute water which has been under the management and expert control of sanitary authority personnel with an appropriate range of qualifications and experience, whereas the private schemes are largely without such invaluable input."