{"id":503461,"date":"2026-06-17T01:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T01:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/503461\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T01:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T01:12:07","slug":"water-quality-in-irish-rivers-and-lakes-remains-unsatisfactory-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/503461\/","title":{"rendered":"Water quality in Irish rivers and lakes remains \u2018unsatisfactory\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland is unlikely to see any meaningful improvements in the water quality of its rivers, lakes or coastal waters \u201canytime soon\u201d, the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> (EPA) has said, after a new report found little change last year.<\/p>\n

The EPA\u2019s latest evaluation of water bodies, published on Wednesday, found little improvement in quality during 2025, saying overall it remained \u201cunsatisfactory in many areas\u201d.<\/p>\n

Its assessment found that the \u201cvery best rivers\u201d continue to deteriorate, with their condition said to have \u201cdropped significantly\u201d over the past decade.<\/p>\n

Of the 86 such \u201chigh-status\u201d river water courses monitored last year, 77 remained unchanged, eight declined and \u201conly one\u201d improved in quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore worryingly,\u201d said the EPA<\/a>, there has been a net decline of 25 per cent in these high-quality rivers since 2012.<\/p>\n

Roni Hawe, director of the EPA\u2019s Office of Evidence and Assessment, said the decline is a serious warning sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are our best waters, and once they are lost, they are difficult to recover,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Overall, the biological health of rivers and lakes has shown little change, with just over half (54 per cent) rated \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbetter\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Drinking water is safe but problems persist with THMs, lead and other contaminants, says EPAOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Nutrient levels, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, from agriculture, poorly treated wastewater discharges and runoff from land, remain \u201ctoo high in many places\u201d and are the \u201cgreatest challenge\u201d to water quality improvements, according to the report.<\/p>\n

When these nutrients reach water bodies, they cause excessive algae growth, reducing oxygen levels and blocking sunlight, subsequently damaging habitats and harming aquatic life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater quality will not improve unless nutrient pollution is reduced. Right now, there is no clear sign of long\u2011term reductions in nutrient levels, making it unlikely that we will see meaningful improvements in water quality any time soon,\u201d notes the report.<\/p>\n

While some areas improved, such as the Ballyteigue-Bannow catchment in Co Wexford, where six of 16 rivers surveyed improved in biological quality, these are being \u201coffset by declines elsewhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

Of the 714 sections of river assessed countrywide, the quality of 515 remained unchanged, 109 declined and 90 improved.<\/p>\n

Three rivers were found to be in \u201cbad condition\u201d last year. These were stretches of the Folies stream within the river Laune catchment in Kerry, the Ahavarraga stream in Limerick and the Clareen, a tributary of the Nenagh river in Tipperary.<\/p>\n

The three have had long-term problems from \u201cvarious pressures\u201d, including farming and urban wastewater.<\/p>\n

Some 224 lakes were monitored, 54 per cent of which were found to be high or good quality.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Odour emissions and discharges to water\u2019 a persistent problem at sites inspected by EPAOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Some 46 per cent of lakes are of moderate or worse quality. Among those, 11 (5 per cent) were in bad biological quality, \u201cthe worst class\u201d.<\/p>\n

The majority of lakes that failed to achieve good quality were in the Erne and Shannon catchments.<\/p>\n

Separately, nitrate concentrations were found to be too high in 22 per cent of groundwater sites surveyed, particularly in the east and southeast, while 20 per cent of estuarine and coastal waters were in an \u201cunsatisfactory condition\u201d for nitrogen, particularly in eastern and southern coasts.<\/p>\n

The EPA\u2019s findings should \u201cconcern all of us\u201d, said Hawe. <\/p>\n

Noting that clean water underpins healthy ecosystems, safe drinking water, recreation and local economies, she called for \u201cgreater urgency to cut pollution and protect the waters we all depend on. Our actions must match the scale of the problem.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland is unlikely to see any meaningful improvements in the water quality of its rivers, lakes or coastal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,11654,61,60,82,106279],"class_list":["post-503461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-environmental-protection-agency-epa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-waterways-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}