A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that one in 20 private water supplies did not meet the standard for E Coli, putting the health of about 6,000 people at risk.
The Drinking Water Quality in Private Group Schemes and Small Private Supplies 2021 report was made public by the EPA today. This study examines the drinking water services provided to about 200,000 people living in rural Ireland’s over 380 group water schemes.
The study included 1,700 small private supplies that provide water to 60,000 daily staff, patrons, and service users in places like hotels, pubs, restaurants, crèches, nursing homes, and public schools.
The EPA said meeting E coli standards is a basic requirement in the provision of safe drinking water.
The water supply has not been adequately disinfected, as evidenced by the discovery of E. coli contamination in one out of every twenty private sources in 2021.
“The failure of these disinfection systems put the health of approximately 6,000 people that use these drinking water supplies throughout the country at risk,” the report found.
Elsewhere, twenty-one private group schemes (7%) failed to meet the standard for Trihalomethanes (THMs,) including five schemes that the European Commission has identified as being of particular concern. THMs are a by-product of the treatment process and are formed where there is an excess of organic matter in the water source.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Dr. Tom Ryan, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: “Compliance with drinking water standards in private supplies for E coli and THMs hasn’t improved in recent years.
It is essential that works to improve water quality are carried out as soon as possible to eliminate serious risks to people’s health.
“Private water suppliers are obliged to make sure their drinking water is clean and wholesome for consumers. Local authorities must investigate supplies that fail to meet drinking water quality standards and, where necessary, follow up with enforcement action to protect public health.”
Noel Byrne, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement added: “Water quality in private supplies consistently lags behind public water quality. It is disappointing to see that €36million of funding was not used by suppliers to
address infrastructural needs at problematic private supplies.
“The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage needs to complete its review of rural drinking water services, with the purpose of providing direction and support to water suppliers and to eliminate public health risks.”
In 2021, more than a quarter of small private supplies used by B&Bs, nursing homes, crèches, and food businesses were unmonitored.
In addition, although there are 1,700 small private supplies registered with local authorities there may be many more that are unregistered. If a supply isn’t registered and hasn’t been monitored, there is no information on the quality of the drinking water provided to consumers, the report added.
“Water suppliers in conjunction with local authorities must ensure that private supplies are registered, and that monitoring is undertaken in line with the regulations.
“This report outlines the actions that need to be taken to address the issues highlighted,” Byrne added.