Given how often we need to employ our umbrellas, we might be forgiven for thinking that our water supply is plentiful. It is a dangerous assumption, writes Sarah Marriott
'The forecast for the next few days is heavy showers with the risk of flash flooding in low-lying areas." With weather like this, it's difficult to view water as a limited resource to be valued and conserved - we just seem to have so much of the stuff.
"Water is like the Cliffs of Moher or Newgrange. It's part of our national heritage," says Paddy Mackey, a campaigner with Save Our Lough Derg (SOLD). "We take water for granted, as if it's an unending resource. But only 2.5 per cent of the world's water is fresh water and only 0.3 per cent of that is in freshwater lakes and rivers and therefore renewable. There's not so much water that you can be mucking about with it."
"Water is special and we should look after it," says Beatrice Kelly of the Heritage Council. "It's part of our culture, our history and our folklore - from the holy wells to the salmon of knowledge. It offers habitats for wildlife and we use rivers, seas and lakes for day-to-day recreation."
With faecal contamination of 42 per cent of group water schemes; whole communities forced to shell out for bottled water; visitors to Lough Derg warned to stay out of the water for the fourth year running; Atlantic beaches losing their Blue Flag status; and serious pollution in 30 per cent of our rivers and all but three of our major lakes, it's clear we have a serious water quality problem.
The EPA has identified eutrophication - excessive levels of phosphates that cause toxic algae blooms that damage native ecology - as the biggest threat to our water quality. While farmers are responsible for a significant amount of surface water pollution - over the past 10 years they have over-applied phosphorous to the tune of more than half a million tonnes, according to the EPA - they are not the only group affecting water quality. "We all have to take responsibility for our actions," says Mackey.
If you use a toilet or a washing machine in the country, run-off from a badly maintained septic tank can pollute lakes, rivers and groundwater - in urban areas, some sewage treatment plants cannot adequately decontaminate dirty water. When you clean or decorate your home, the chemicals in cleaning products, paints and oils can affect fish and other aquatic life while gardeners using pesticides can damage ecosystems.
Taking out a boat can be lethal to the environment. Petrol, oil, diesel and marine toilets all cause pollution; fast boats erode riverbanks and affect habitats; while any vessel is capable of spreading alien species such as the infamous zebra mussels in the Shannon catchment area. Heavy machinery used in forestry and construction compacts soil, which contributes to flooding, while oil and diesel washed from roads and car parks into storm drains can pollute rivers and seas.
Building one-off housing can seriously damage both groundwater and surface water. An Taisce points out that Lough Leane in Killarney has again been closed to the public as a result of pollution, some of it from septic tanks, and that Lough Allen would be heavily polluted if it hadn't succeeded in its appeals against planning decisions for more septic tanks around the lake.
Most of our drinking water comes from lakes and rivers, which may contain agricultural run-off and industrial discharges. This is worrying, says Mindy O'Brien of the environmental awareness group VOICE, because under 10 per cent of sewage treatment plants are equipped to remove phosphates, and because they often have no idea what "toxic chemical cocktail" small businesses such as dry cleaners or car washes are pumping into the sewers. In its 1998-2000 water quality report, the EPA noted that treatment plants in fast-growing towns are overloaded and inadequate.
Surprisingly, given how often we need to open our umbrellas, this island also has a water quantity problem. Not only do we lose over one-third of treated water from leaking pipes, but rapid industrialisation and urban growth have increased demand. Dublin may have to "import" water from the Shannon and the lakewater levels in areas such as the Boyne Valley have fallen noticeably in the past few years.
Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe without a water charge and therefore we don't think about the amount of water we waste, says O'Brien. VOICE estimates that we each use about 140 litres of tap water a day but half of this is flushed straight down the toilet and less than 10 per cent is used for drinking or cooking. The group argues that the best way to conserve this finite resource - and to pay for adequate monitoring of quality - is to hit people in the pocket and charge for water.
But it's not all doom and gloom. Many major contributors to the pollution (such as factories) have been identified and are being tackled, while a variety of measures (such as planting to stop run-off from car-parks) are being introduced. Farms on the Rural Environment Protection Scheme have a nutrients management plan to balance the use of fertilisers and slurry (although the more intensive farms outside REPS do not); the water quality of rivers improved in 1998-2000, for the first time since surveys began; and the improvement in Shannon basin water quality indicates that intensive management plans can be effective.
Until recently, water management was not viewed holistically. For the first time, an integrated approach to water management, which takes account of the aquatic environment as a whole, is being introduced.
The ambitious EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) will apply quality and quantity standards to all water bodies: rivers, lakes, canals, reservoirs, coastal water up to 1 km from shore and groundwater. "Its tasks are to maintain high water quality where it exists, such as in upland streams in Co Wicklow, and to achieve a high status where it doesn't, by 2015," says Kieran Fitzpatrick of the Eastern River BasinDistrict.
Under the WFD, Ireland is divided into eight river basin areas, headed by lead councils. Dublin City Council, for example, is leader of the ERBD, which stretches from Drogheda to Wexford and includes all or part of 13 counties.
In December, it will publish a report - "a snapshot of where we are today, of what water bodies we think will pass the WFD standards and what bodies we think are at risk of not passing," says Fitzpatrick. Then management strategies will be devised in consultation with stakeholders, including local communities.
Will the WFD make a difference? "It's a cause for some optimism," says Chris Huxley, lecturer in environmental science at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), who is also a keen angler. "The tragedy is that the causes of pollution were well-known 15 years ago but nothing was done to prevent the devastation of our lakes and rivers." Mackey is guardedly positive. "We travel in hope. It's a new way of addressing the problem. If the right approach is taken, we'll see an improvement, but if we just do more of the same it won't work."
See www.wfdireland.ie and www.voice.buz.org
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