One household in five supplied with drinking water from polluted source
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ALMOST a third of rivers supplying drinking water to hundreds of thousands of families nationwide are polluted, a damning Environmental Protection Agency report reveals today.
The crisis is worsening with an alarming 60pc of groundwater supplies sampled during the year-long investigation polluted by e-coli from human and animal waste.
Almost one-in-five householders get their tap water from groundwater supplies which are increasingly contaminated, according to the report.
Bacteria such as e-coli and cryptosporidium, which can cause serious illness, is increasing in our groundwater, the nationwide-probe concludes.
Local authorities' sewage discharges and slurry and fertiliser run-off from farms are branded the main culprits for the pollution.
The report comes in the wake of the recent Galway pollution crisis where more than 90,000 people could not drink their publicly-supplied water as it was contaminated by the deadly cryptosporidium bug from Lake Corrib.
Hundreds of people fell ill as a result. Fish kills are also at "an unacceptably-high level" due to sewage from council plants and farms, according to the EPA report.
"There remains an unacceptable and sizeable level of water pollution in the country," it concludes.
A total of 29pc of river channel length, 8pc of lake surface area and over 22pc of the estuarine/coastal water bodies examined are polluted and will not meet the EU Water Framework Directive.
kills
"The level of bacterial and nutrient contamination in our groundwaters is increasing and the number of fish kills in our rivers remains unacceptably high," it finds.
The Water Quality in Ireland 2006 Report reveals:
l almost 30pc of all our rivers are badly polluted;
l 57pc of groundwater tested was contaminated by fecal e-coli from human and animal waste, an increase on the previous year;
l a total of 25pc of groundwaters have excessive levels of nitrates which cause blue-baby syndrome when the nitrates turn to nitrites in the bottle and react with blood haemoglobin. This is worst in the south and south east of the country;
l 19pc of coastal waters and estuaries are also grossly contaminated and the problem is worsening.
Dr Mary Kelly, EPA director general, said that although water extracted from groundwater sources is treated before being used in public supplies, increased contamination puts further pressure on drinking water treatment plants.
More stringent protection of groundwater resources was now urgently required, she said.
Dr Kelly said urban-sewage treatment licensing, farm-nutrient management and catchment management for discharges needed to be tackled immediately.
The report dealt with 13,200km of river and stream channel, 421 lakes, 69 tidal water bodies (from 21 estuarine and coastal areas) and 285 groundwater sources. Phosphates and nitrates, both of which come from farming and sewage plants, are the main causes of water pollution.
These hemical combinations cause eutrophication whereby rivers and lakes get over-enriched with nutrients, have too much growth, and fish life is killed off, having been starved of oxygen.
Of the 449 lakes assessed, water quality in 66 of these was less than satisfactory, with 15 lakes being highly polluted.
There were 34 fish kills recorded in 2006, caused by local authority services and agriculture.
"The number of instances of these events remains at an unacceptably-high level," according to the report.
The overall quality in the 69 water bodies from 21 estuarine and coastal areas declined, with an increase in the numbers showing enrichment.
Shellfish are also suffering, with their waters showing more pollution than they had in previous years.
The report says that in Ireland, groundwater is a significant source of drinking water supply.
Worryingly, the number of groundwater samples and sampling locations showing bacteriological contamination, in the period 2004--2006, showed an increase for the first time since 1995. Some 13pc of samples that the survey took were grossly contaminated.
