Irish Water has said it hopes to be able to remove boil water notices affecting more than 20,000 people by the middle of next year.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Irish Water's Head of Asset Management Jerry Grant said he hoped it could resolve a number of these cases even sooner.
He said: "Many of those are in Roscommon, where we have six new treatment plants currently under construction.
"The priority for us is to get all of those people off boil water notices, certainly the latest by the middle of 2015, but some should be resolved later this year by November-December time."
Mr Grant said he recognised and accepted that those affected should not be charged for drinking water.
He said he believed the regulator was minded to offer a 50% discount on drinking water charges in places where it has existed for up to three months and a 100% discount for places that have boil notices for longer than this.
Mr Grant said Irish Water also intended addressing problems at 126 water plants that currently do not meet standards.
