Today, the EPA published its report on Drinking Water Quality in Public Supplies for 2024. The report shows that Uisce Éireann are making steady progress in most areas, but that continued focus is necessary to address ongoing issues.
While the quality of drinking water from public supplies remains very high, with over 99.8 per cent of samples compliant with standards there are concerns that nearly 500,000 people are being served by ‘at-risk’ supplies on the Remedial Action List. This means their supply needs upgrades to secure a safe water supply. While 12 supplies were taken off the RAL in 2024, 45 remain on the list impacting nearly 500,000 people. The EPA have stated that UE must address issues with water quality or infrastructure at these supplies as a matter of priority, however UE still need to develop action plans for 10 of these supplies.
If there is an issue or incident that causes a water quality failure at a supply, the HSE issue a Boil Water Notice to the people on that supply. There were 33 long-term boil water notices in 2024, down one-third from 2023. However, boil water notices are still an issue for 95,000 people. The EPA state that performance and resilience need to be improved at these plants.
In 2024 and 2025, a number of storms resulted in water outages impacting a large proportion of the population. The EPA state that UE need to use Drinking Water Safety Plans to improve incident detection and management and improve resilience of supplies.
Climate change will add additional stress for water services management. Research commissioned by the Forum highlights the impact on water availability and water quality.
The Forum’s Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources policy brief can be found here.
