Ireland may be subject to legal action from EU amid water safety target fears, says EPA

Water quality issues have impacted river basin ecosystems — and there are also concerns around the persistence of boil water notices. Stock picture

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says Ireland may be subject to legal action by the EU over potential failures to meet requirements for water safety.

Issues with water quality have impacted river basin ecosystems and Ireland must rectify these in line with EU targets for 2030.

Speaking at the Oireachtas joint committee on housing, local government, and heritage yesterday, Tom Ryan, director at the EPA’s office of evidence and assessment, told the committee “it is essential that urgent action is taken” to improve river basin ecosystems that are failing to meet the legally-binding water quality objectives and “prevent further deterioration”.

More than 500,000 people also continue to be served by water supplies deemed in need of investment to improve water quality.

The figure was reduced from 1m in 2020 to 375,000 at the end of 2021, but due to “issues at a number of other treatment plants in the first half of this year”, some of these gains have been reversed, said the EPA.

Michelle Minihan, senior inspector at the EPA, said Ireland is an outlier in its trihalomethane (THM) failures in its water supply. She said the EPA has seen where interventions have been unsuccessful, and it was “disappointing” and a “persistent problem” to continue adding water plants to the list of plants in need of investment due to THM issues.

“It is very unfortunate that we went [backwards] last year,” Irish Water chief executive Niall Gleeson told the committee, adding that the EU is “not happy” about Ireland’s issue with THM failures.

Irish Water CEO Niall Gleeson told the Oireachtas committee 'there is a limit on what we can deliver.' Picture: Naoise Culhane

Mr Gleeson said “there is a limit on what we can deliver” and did not feel that “throwing more money at this” would allow them to meet targets quicker.

Irish Water said it expects to spend €1.1bn in capital investment this year and €1.2bn next year.

Most of the water quality issues arise from plants that predate the last 10 years.

Irish Water said it needed €40bn-€50bn in investment to bring the their service up to a “normal level”. The committee also heard Irish Water spends €200m-€250m a year on fixing leaks, which have reduced from 50% to 38%.

Mr Ryan said there had been decades of underinvestment in the water system but the last 10 years have seen a significant increase.  

Ireland’s water is 99.7% safe, and while there are continued issues surrounding water treatment plants in Ireland, the quality of drinking water is “very high”, he said.  

Amid concerns around the persistence of boil water notices being issued across the country, the HSE said the length of time in place for such restrictions has reduced significantly.

Anne Marie Part, assistant national director for environmental health at the HSE, said at times there “may have been a breakdown in communication” with Irish Water around water notifications and “there’s probably some room for improvement” on the turnaround time for these alerts.