Work required to secure Ireland's drinking water for the future - EPA

The quality of drinking water in public supplies in Westmeath and the rest of the country is high, but work needs to be carried out by Irish Water to ensure it remains so, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The agency's report on the quality of drinking water in public supplies in 2020 revealed that there was over 99.7% compliance with bacterial and chemical limits. However, while the continued high levels of water quality being achieved are “positive for consumers and indicate that the water is safe to drink”, the EPA says that “improvements are needed in our drinking water infrastructure to protect public health”.

The environmental body says that delays in the delivery of these improvements at water treatment plants by Irish Water means that water supplies “remain vulnerable for longer, posing a risk to the health of a large portion of the population”.

The EPA’s Remedial Action List identified 46 vulnerable supplies serving around one million people consumers with “significant issues” to be addressed by Irish Water at the end of 2020. This figure is down from 77 supplies in 2017. However, improvement works at almost half of these supplies will now take longer to complete than was anticipated at the end of 2019. None of the 46 vulnerable supplies are in Westmeath.

A total of 43 boil water notices were issued across the country in 2020, including two for the hundreds of households in Castlepollard and surrounding areas served by the Ballany water treatment plant. The first boil notice at Ballany was issued on New Year's Eve 2019 and was lifted on January 8, 2020. The second was issued on September 1, 2020 and was lifted on September 9, 2020.

Launching the report, Dr Tom Ryan, EPA Director said:

“It is good news that our water is safe to drink today, but we cannot say with confidence that it is resilient into the future. The EPA remains concerned about the vulnerability of many drinking water supplies nationally. Irish Water needs to fix the remaining supplies on the EPA’s Remedial Action List without further delay. Recent incidents at Gorey and Ballymore Eustace water treatment plants have highlighted the absolute necessity for Irish Water to ensure our public water supplies are properly and effectively operated, and managed, to protect public health.”

The EPA has also found deficiencies in the national disinfection programme, and a continued lack of focus by Irish Water and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on plans to remove lead from supply connections and assessments of the extent of lead pipework in public buildings on lead in public buildings.

Noel Byrne, EPA Programme Manager, said:

“15,500 consumers were on Boil water notices for over a month in 2020, and 145,000 households still have lead connections from water mains, which highlights the vulnerabilities that exist in drinking water supplies.

Irish Water must expedite lead connection replacements and progress improvements to disinfection systems - including addressing the issues with the disinfection programme identified by the EPA - to ensure that the quality of drinking water is adequately safeguarded.”

Irish Water Response

Responding to the report, Irish Water says that since 2014 it has been "working in partnership with Westmeath County Council, to address water quality issues across the county".

"We have built new drinking water infrastructure in towns and villages across the county, improving water quality and benefitting local communities.

"By building this new infrastructure we have improved drinking water for over 48,000 people and facilitated the removal of the Mullingar Water Supply Scheme from the EPA’s Remedial Action List."

John Gavin, the regional operations lead with Irish Water, says that the report highlights that Ireland has a “world class level of compliance with the drinking water regulations”.

“Given the size and scale of investment needed to upgrade water treatment plants and the wider water network, Irish Water is very pleased to achieve such a high compliance rate for the Irish public.

“During 2020, we made major investments in new and upgraded plants as well as delivering improvement programmes at our plants to enhance the quality and consistency of supply.

"Our investment continues. We are advancing Drinking Water Safety Plans for all of our larger supplies, with a key emphasis on minimising risks from source to tap. We have engaged extensively and comprehensively with the EPA on this and will prioritise funding towards those schemes at highest risk.

“The report is clear, however, that much more remains to be done to secure water supplies into the future. Irish Water has plans underway to work with Local Authorities and other delivery partners to further enhance our ability to manage public water supplies to the required standards as set out in the Drinking Water Directives. Irish Water have also rolled out critical training to all Local Authorities to ensure alarms and controls are in place and are operationally effective to ensure public health is protected now and into the future.”