99.8% of public drinking water samples tested last year were compliant with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.
Their latest report found the number of “at risk” supplies and long-term boil water notices both fell last year.
Almost 500,000 people are being served by “at risk” public drinking water supplies across the country, down from 561,000 in 2023, while the number of long-term boil water notices dropped by a third in the same period – one issued for the Troyswood facility which serves Kilkenny city is in place for almost a year now, affecting 22 customers. (That plant was updated last year – more here).
The EPA says almost all public water supplies are classified as safe to drink, while good progress has been made in the area of disinfection, but they warn the process to remove lead from supply networks is still far too slow. Orthophosphate dosing to reduce the solubility of lead from pipework is in place at 12 water treatment plants, including in Hacketstown.
EPA Programme Manager Noel Byrne says fixing issues now will mean fewer problems in the future noting; “The longer these resilience issues aren’t addressed by Uisce Éireann it does create the opportunity for something to go wrong and then public health could be impacted so that’s why it’s a positive for everybody if resilience is improved in drinking water supplies.”
Meanwhile, the report shows there’s a completion date of March 2026 for the upgrade of the Carlow north regional water treatment plant which serves 8,550, but over 6,000 in South Kilkenny, where the installation of UV disinfection’s been proposed, face a wait to December 2029.
