The pertinent point in the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2023 review of drinking water quality is the statement that the water in our public water supplies is safe to drink. It does not mean that there are no problems, but they must be seen through this lens.
The review – which measures compliance with EU standards – zoomed in on the resilience of the system and the likelihood that the water it provides will remain safe into the future. The number of schemes deemed “at-risk” in 2023 was 561,000, up from 481,000 in 2022.
The increase is attributed to more schemes exceeding the acceptable level of trihalomethanes – a possibly carcinogenic by-product of treating water containing high level of organic matter with chlorine – or inadequate treatment for the protozoan Cryptosporidium, which causes diarrhoea.
The EPA calls on the state-owned water utility, Uisce Éireann to upgrade treatment plants, or make sure they are properly operated to reduce the increasing risk of contamination by protozoans. It points out the number of supplies that do not meet the standards for trihalomethanes is also rising. Early this year the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Ireland had failed to fully implement the Drinking Water Directive regarding THMs in drinking water. The persistence of these issues – seven supplies have been “at risk” from more than a year – is the most troubling aspect of the report . The corollary of this is the apparent inability of Uisce Éireann to fix the problems.
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The resilience of the water supply is the responsibility of Uisce Éireann but the Government also has a duty to ensure that the State body has the resources and tools necessary to discharge its responsibilities. It is not allowed fund itself through water charges and when established it inherited a patchwork of standalone systems from local authorities, the common feature of which was chronic underinvestment. Ultimately, it is the level of Government investment and the efficiency with which the money is spent which will determine the robustness of the water supply.