ONE IN 20 private water supplies failed to meet the standard for E coli meaning the health of around 6,000 people was put at risk, a new report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). has found.

The EPA today released the Drinking Water Quality in Private Group Schemes and Small Private Supplies 2021 report. This is a study of drinking water provided by over 380 group water schemes to around 200,000 people across rural parts of Ireland.

The report also studied over 1,700 small private supplies like those in hotels, pubs and restaurants, crèches, nursing homes and national schools which provide water to around 60,000 staff, customers and service users on a daily basis.

The EPA said meeting E coli standards is a basic requirement in the provision of safe drinking water.

In 2021, one in twenty private supplies were found to have E coli contamination, meaning that the water supply has not been properly disinfected.

“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.”

During 2021, over a quarter of small private supplies, serving food businesses, nursing
homes, crèches and B&Bs were not monitored.

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.