The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called on the Government to urgently introduce mandatory registration for all private drinking water supplies because of ongoing contamination and the absence of accurate data on people getting their water from such sources.
In its report on private water supplies for 2024 published on Tuesday, it highlights the total number of small private supplies remains unknown as there is no legal obligation to register, while unregistered supplies are not monitored by local authorities – despite a worsening E.coli problem in the sector.
Water quality in private water supplies “is not as good as public water supplies”, with the number of private group schemes failing to meet E.coli standards in 2024 at 24; up from 13 in 2022.
More than 370 private group schemes supply drinking water to 193,000 people across rural communities. In addition, many businesses and public facilities source water from their own private wells – known as small private supplies.
Almost 1,700 small private supplies are registered with local authorities, but many more are not. These include supplies serving schools, nursing homes, sports clubs and self-catering accommodation.
EPA director Micheál Lehane said: “Without registration and subsequent monitoring by local authorities, consumers are unaware of the potential health risk they may be exposed to.”
In the interim, the EPA said private suppliers should register with local authorities “so all proper safety checks can be carried out on their supply”.
Meeting E.coli standards is a minimum requirement in providing safe water and failures indicate lack of proper disinfection. Six schemes had repeat failures over two consecutive years and five of these are on long-term boil water notices.
E.coli failures were recorded in 51 small private supplies monitored by local authorities.
Programme manager at the EPA office of environmental monitoring Noel Byrne said: “E.coli compliance has declined with almost double the number of private supplies failing in 2024 compared to 2022.”
In 2024, 19 private group schemes supplying 21,800 people failed the standard for Trihalomethanes, which can form when organic matter in water reacts with chlorine disinfectant – long-term exposure poses a health risk.
