Irish Water has set 2021 as the target date to eliminate all boil water notices in the country, and to reduce the leakage of treated water by 11%.
The targets are contained in a draft plan by Irish Water for managing water services over the next 25 years.
Irish Water says it needs to invest €600m each year to implement its strategy.
The company says because of historic under-investment in Ireland's water and wastewater networks, around €600m capital investment each year is needed to achieve adequate standards of drinking water.
In order to raise that money at reasonable rates of interest, it says it will have to demonstrate that it is operating efficiently and with secure revenue streams.
Nationally, 49% of treated water is lost due to leaks. The plan aims to reduce that figure to 38% by the end of 2021 and to 18-22% by 2040.
Currently, only three in five waste treatment plants comply with EU standards, and it is leading to 148 incidents of local pollution every year.
Irish Water's target is to have all treatment plants fully compliant in 25 years' time, and to reduce the number of incidents to 20 per year.
The plan also says Dublin will need a new source of water supply by the early 2020s.
The public has until 17 April to make its views known on Irish Water's draft plan.
Irish Water Head of Assets Jerry Grant has said he is confident that it can deliver on the targets outlined in its Strategic National Plan.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Grant admitted that there would be a major challenge ahead and that it would take a long time.
"It is going to take a consistent high level of spending.
"Part of the problem historically was that spending went up and down. Projects and programmes were not delivered consistently and problems like leakage for example are very long term."
He said the annual investment of €600m is the minimum figure required.
