EPA says delays and the slowed pace at which essential improvements in waste water treatment are being delivered is unacceptable

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have published their report on Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2020, which shows that the pace essential improvements in waste water treatment are being delivered at is too slow.

Irish Water is making progress in resolving environmental issues - the number of priority areas has reduced from 148 to 97 over the past 4 years - though there is still a long way to go to bring all the deficient treatment systems up to standard. 

Further delays have occurred in providing treatment for many of the 34 towns and villages currently discharging raw sewage. As a result, over one third of these areas will not receive treatment until after 2024. Investment in waste water infrastructure is bringing environmental benefits to some areas, with the number of large towns and cities failing to meet the EU treatment standards down from 28 in 2017 to just 12 in 2020. However, the final deadline for all large urban areas to meet these standards was 2005. 

The Director of the EPA's Office of Environmental Enforcement, Dr Tom Ryan, commented on the report, saying: “It is unacceptable that 15 years after the final deadline to comply, half of Ireland’s urban waste water is still not treated to the basic EU standards.  There are repeated delays in providing proper treatment at many areas, and this continues to put our environment and people’s health at risk.  It is clear that Ireland will still need substantial investment over many years to bring our public waste water treatment plants and public sewers up to standard.  Irish Water must deliver the essential infrastructure in as timely a manner as possible and resolve the underlying causes for the delays in upgrading treatment systems.”

The EPA report identifies priority areas where improvements are most urgently needed, and will deliver the greatest environmental benefits. It sets out the following key actions recommended for Irish Water:

• direct resources to the priority areas, and ensure there is a clear plan and time frame to resolve each area's environmental issues;
• resolve the underlying causes for delays in upgrading treatment systems, and deliver upgrade works in as timely a manner as possible; and
• complete the impact assessments for shellfish waters, and address the information shortfalls on both the condition and performance of collecting systems. 

The EPA Programme Manager, Noel Byrne, said: “While we are seeing progress at some areas, it is very concerning that Irish Water still has no clear action plans setting out when and how it will improve treatment at many of the priority areas where waste water is threatening the quality of our rivers and coastal waters.  It is essential that Irish Water improves treatment to resolve the environmental issues highlighted by the EPA and provides clear, site specific action plans and time frames to carry out this work.”