Some 161,000 people are at risk of crippling illness from a microscopic parasite in drinking water, watchdogs have warned.

Cork city’s drinking water supply is “at risk”, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The water supply to some schools, nursing homes, and hotels are not monitored in any way for E.coli, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency which found the water quality from such sources is “consistently poorer than public water supplies”.

Almost 1,000 complaints about smell and noise from waste and industrial facilities were made to the Environmental Protection Agency last year.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned waste facilities to improve standards of operation and storage as it was revealed that six companies were fined a total of €86,000 for licensing breaches in 2013.

More than half of the country’s septic tanks inspected under a controversial new testing regime have failed the test, according to latest figures from the EPA.

Waste water from towns and villages in counties Cork, Donegal, Wicklow, Galway, Clare, Mayo, Waterford, Wexford and Dublin is putting Irish bathing waters and rivers at risk as raw sewage isn’t being removed.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has expressed concern about the quality of water supplies at private wells, following the doubling in detection rates of a particularly dangerous form of E.coli.

THE large amount of smoke rising from chimneys since the onset of winter tells us that traditional fuels such as coal, wood and, to a lesser extent, turf, still keep the home fires burning.

The number of private wells contaminated with a harmful strain of E.coli which can lead to kidney failure have doubled in the last year.

Homeowners with private wells are being urged to monitor them amid fears they could be a source of a dangerous E.coli infection.

Anglers have expressed fears a river’s salmon and trout stocks will be wiped out by pollution which they claim is possibly emanating from a waste treatment plant and a speciality cheese factory.

Householders living around Cork Harbour — the country’s pharmaceutical heartland — have been waiting 12 years for water treatment facilities to bring their drinking water up to EU and national standards.

THREE major treatment plants which provide water to more than 500,000 people need to be modernised to secure supplies, environmental experts warn.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today secured a temporary High Court injunction against the owners of piggery which the agency claims is being operated in a manner that poses a significant risk to both human health and the environment.

THERE are few things people take for granted as much as they do water.

THERE has been a dramatic decline in Ireland’s high quality river water over the last 21 years, from 600 clean rivers to less than 60, a new report by the Environmental Protection Agency reveals.

ONE of the major challenges in the years ahead will be to ensure the water we drink is safe.

WATER supplies to almost 120,000 people throughout the country were so bad last year that they had a boil water notice or restriction of use placed on them, it has emerged.

AT least 100 old mines have been identified with varying levels of contamination and in need of remediation similar to the Haulbowline toxic site in Cork harbour.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to grant the licence for a controversial waste incinerator on Dublin's Poolbeg peninsula, it announced today.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s ‘Dump the Dumpers’ phoneline had 2,184 calls in its first year of operation, the agency said yesterday.

IF THE Green Party doesn’t deliver on its environmental policies while in government, its pious words voiced in the powerlessness of opposition will surely come back to haunt it.

MORE than 200,000 tonnes of household waste was unaccounted for in 2005, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A ’Dump The Dumpers’ hotline to report litter louts is to be extended until 2008, it emerged today.

PEOPLE who dump waste illegally are to face extra penalties for having their rubbish cleaned up.

Significant environmental problems are being caused by people burning waste and using organised fly-tipping to illegally remove their rubbish, it emerged today.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is warning illegal dumpers and industries with poor waste-management records of a major crackdown.

THE EU Commissioner for the Environment is investigating why this country has failed to remove all waste from, and fill in, illegal lagoons, despite being ordered to do so 13 months ago by the European Court.

A multinational pharmaceutical company was today fined over €100,000 on pollution charges.

More than one third of county and city councils have not tested public water supplies for a potentially fatal disease, it emerged today.

THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promised last night to improve the lines of communication with residents in Cork harbour.

A GROUP of farmers have raised concerns about the recent spillage of 50,000 litres of caustic soda at the Aughinish Alumina plant with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ONE of Ireland’s foremost experts on the chemical industry believes the Environmental Protection Agency has neither the expertise nor the resources to fully monitor and enforce environmental regulations within the industry.

THE Government will face fines of several million euro if it does not clean up its act after being found guilty yesterday of failing to tackle illegal dumping and breaking EU waste directives.

The Government has allocated extra funding to clamp down on illegal waste dumping, it emerged today.

The Junior Environment Minister has called for a fully thought-out programme on tackling illegal waste activities.

THE Environmental Protection Agency has promised it is moving towards a zero tolerance of illegal waste activity after improving enforcement of regulations and licences during the past year.

The new Office of Environmental Enforcement opens today in Wexford.

The Office of Environmental Enforcement was launched in Dublin today, with the power to fine up to €15m for breaches of the Waste Management Act.

Environment Minister Martin Cullen has officially launched the Office of Environmental Enforcement.