Sea-change needed for cleaner water

WITH most of the spotlight on the restoration of water supplies, following damage done during the freezing spell, it would be easy to overlook a paramount issue — the quality of the water we drink each day.

A key challenge, which has yet to be treated with the urgency it deserves, is to ensure the water we drink is safe and free from pollution.

A recent ESRI report found most households in Ireland have been supplied with contaminated water which was not up EU standards. Pollution in sources of supply, such as rivers, lakes and bore wells, has deteriorated in recent years and the situation was graphically highlighted by the cryptosporidium outbreak, in Galway, in 2007.