Water contamination risk for 800k people, EPA warns

Water supplies serving more than 800,000 people are at risk of contamination and in need of urgent investment, the Environmental Protection Agency has warned.

The numbers affected have risen by 21,000 since the end of last year despite progress by Irish Water in tackling long-running problems in counties Roscommon and Dublin throughout the year.

David Flynn, programme manager with the EPA, said: “There has been a reduction but 800,000 is far too many and it’s really a case now of having to get sustained investment to bring the water network up to what would be an acceptable standard.”