Investment in drinking water urgent, says EPA

Investment is required to bring “at risk” drinking water supplies that serve nearly 1m people up to future standards, the Environmental Protection Agency has warned.

The call comes as the EPA today issues its 2013 Drinking Water Report, which found that 99.8% of samples from public drinking supplies taken in 2013 complied with microbiological limits and 99.5% of samples complied with chemical limits set for water.

However, Gerard O’Leary, director of EPA’s office of environmental enforcement, said that the high compliance rate in public supplies “masks the specific and serious problems occurring in some supplies and the significant risk of future problems”.