EPA Warns Thousands Could Be at Risk as Many Private Drinking Water Supplies Remain Unregistered

Dublin: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned that many private drinking water supplies across Ireland remain unregistered and are not being routinely monitored, raising concerns about potential risks to public health. The agency is urging the government to strengthen legislation to ensure all private water supplies are registered and regularly tested for contamination.

According to the EPA, some private suppliers continue to distribute drinking water without adequate scientific monitoring, increasing the risk that contaminated water—including water containing E. coli bacteria—could reach consumers undetected.

EPA Calls for Mandatory Registration

The agency has called on the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to amend existing legislation to make it mandatory for all private drinking water supplies to be registered with local authorities and subject to regular monitoring.

Ireland has thousands of small private water suppliers that provide drinking water from wells and other private sources to schools, childcare facilities, nursing homes, hotels, campsites, sports clubs and other commercial and public premises.

However, the EPA said that only around 1,600 private supplies are currently registered with local authorities.

Without registration, authorities cannot routinely inspect or monitor these supplies to ensure the water is safe for human consumption.

The EPA highlighted significant regional differences in registration levels.

For example:

• County Cork has around 250 registered private water supplies.

• County Mayo has only 24 registered supplies.

EPA Programme Manager Noel Byrne described the low registration levels as a serious concern and stressed that the safety of drinking water must be treated as a public health priority.

Quality Falls Below Public Water Standards

Ireland has 376 community-operated private group water schemes, supplying drinking water to approximately 200,000 people.

The EPA said that water quality from registered private supplies does not consistently match the standards achieved by the public water system.

The agency is calling for all private suppliers to be registered and regularly monitored to ensure they meet national drinking water quality standards.

It also encouraged consumers to ask suppliers whether their water has been tested and to seek confirmation that appropriate monitoring is taking place.

Concerns Over E. coli and Trihalomethanes

The report found that during the past year:

• Around 20,000 people received drinking water from small private supplies that failed to meet standards for trihalomethanes (THMs).

• Approximately 2,000 people were supplied with water from private schemes that failed E. coli safety standards.

The EPA also noted that 40% of private group water schemes failed to meet E. coli standards during 2024 and 2025, highlighting the need for stronger oversight and improved water quality management.

According to the EPA, one of the fundamental problems is that owners of many small private water supplies are not legally required to register their systems with local authorities.

Although the Department of Housing identified the need to strengthen the governance, oversight and management of private water supplies several years ago, the EPA said the necessary legislative reforms have yet to be introduced.

The National Federation of Group Water Schemes welcomed the EPA’s report but emphasised that the vast majority of community-operated schemes continue to provide safe drinking water.

The federation said that 99% of the approximately 194,000 people served by group water schemes received water that met required standards, adding that no group water scheme distributed drinking water found to be contaminated with E. coli during 2025.

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