The quality of drinking water from public supplies remains very high and the public can be confident that water supplied to their homes is safe to drink, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The latest Drinking Water Quality Report found that Uisce Éireann has made good progress in delivering necessary drinking water infrastructure, but warned that many water supplies still lack robust treatment measures to guarantee their long-term resilience and safety.
The EPA tested 8,259 samples from public water supplies for E. coli bacteria last year and found it in only one out of all those cases.
Samples tested for Enterococci, another illness-causing bacteria, as well as a host of unwelcome chemicals, were equally reassuring.
The EPA concluded that 99.7% of samples were compliant with bacterial and chemical limits and the quality of public water is very high and safe to drink.
However, the report takes Uisce Éireann to task over a risk to the safety and security of the drinking water supply for 481,000 people that are served by 58 different water treatment plants that need remedial action and significant upgrades.
This includes 115,000 people in Limerick City and 81,500 in Co Kildare.
The EPA is particularly unhappy that Uisce Éireann has no upgrade or improvement plan with completion dates for 18 of the 58 water supplies on its Remedial Action List.
A total of 79 boil water notices and 10 water restrictions were in place in 2022 affecting almost 191,000 people.
The EPA said that it recognises boil water notices are necessary to protect public health when supplies are compromised, but it expects such disruptions to reduce as a result of improved infrastructure and management practices over time.
The report also highlights serious concern over the pace of progress in removing lead piping from the public drinking water network, from public buildings and from affected homes, which the EPA said is far too slow.
EPA programme manager Noel Byrne said: "The EPA welcomes the expansion of the lead remediation grant scheme, which will ease the financial burden on homeowners to replace lead piping."
"However, leadership is required at national level to address lead in public supplies," he said.
"Uisce Éireann must accelerate the rollout of their lead mitigation plan and Government departments must outline their plan for lead replacement in public buildings as part of the National Lead Strategy," he added.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Byrne also said boil water notices need to be reduced over time.
"So, if we had 79 boil water notices in 2022 and that that was 782,000 people. That should reduce.
"It will never be eliminated because there always be some issue that will need a boil water notice, but ultimately that should greatly reduce so that the number of boil water notices that people have to be subjected to during any particular year is to a minimum."
Uisce Éireann operates over 700 water treatment plants around the country and supplies drinking water to 1.3 million households.
It said it invested over €500 million in drinking water infrastructure in 2022 and this EPA report shows its public drinking water supplies are among the best in the world.
As a result of its investment last year, 18,500 customers were removed from boil water notices that had been in place for more than 30 days, 11 water supplies serving 130,000 customers were removed from the EPA's Remedial Action List and 315km of water main network pipes were either laid or rehabilitated.
Head of Asset Operations at Uisce Éireann Tom Cuddy said key projects completed last year included a new water treatment plant in Cork City benefitting over 97,000 people with a cleaner and more secure drinking water supply.
Drinking water treatment plants were also upgraded in Skibbereen, Co Cork, Mountain Stage and Ballyheigue, Co Kerry, Ballymagroarty, Co Donegal, Ballymahon Co Longford and Athlone, Co Westmeath.
Additionally, another significant upgrade of the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant was completed to secure supplies and improved drinking water quality to over 600,000 customers in Co Dublin.
