Waste treatment record further muddied despite €8bn spend

NEARLY €8 billion has been spent upgrading the country’s water systems over the past decade.

However, many residential areas do not have safe drinking water and untreated sewage is still being released into our waterways.

Now, despite the Government’s attempts to catch up, the problem is likely to remain critical because planners have been handing out building permissions without taking into account whether or not systems can cope with the extra pressure.