Two decades is too long to wait to fix Ireland’s deficient wastewater treatment plants, says EPA.

Date released: October 10, 2024

• The number of towns and villages discharging raw sewage every day has reduced from 29 down to 16 since the beginning of 2023.
• Wastewater treatment at 10 large towns and cities failed to meet European Union standards set to protect the environment.
• Uisce Éireann’s delays in delivering improvements at priority areas where wastewater is adversely impacting rivers and coastal waters are prolonging risks to water quality.
• Wastewater discharged from over half of treatment plants did not always meet the licence standards set to prevent pollution.

11th October 2024: The EPA’s Urban Wastewater Treatment in 2023 report, released today, highlights progress in wastewater treatment, including a 45 per cent reduction in the number of towns and villages discharging raw sewage, since the start of 2023. Nevertheless, wastewater treatment at many areas is not good enough to prevent wastewater discharges from impacting the quality of rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters.

All deficient wastewater works must be brought up to the standards required to protect the environment but, based on Uisce Éireann estimates, this could take over two decades and will require substantial investment. As it is not possible to fix all the problems in the short term, improvements must be prioritised where they are needed most. The EPA has identified 73 priority areas where improvements in wastewater treatment are most urgently needed to protect our environment. Uisce Éireann has not yet started upgrade works at half of these.

Launching the report, Dr Tom Ryan, EPA Director said:

“Investment has resulted in stopping raw sewage discharges during the past year from 13 towns and villages that were priority areas highlighted by the EPA. This demonstrates that such investment protects our environment and benefits our local communities. The much-needed upgrade of Ireland’s largest treatment plant at Ringsend in Dublin, treating over 40 per cent of all national wastewaters, is now well advanced, and this is to be welcomed. However, wastewater discharges continue to be a significant pressure on water quality in many of our rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters. Without an ambitious and sustained investment programme to build out our wastewater treatment infrastructure it could take over two decades to achieve the required standards to protect the environment.

At an operational level, Uisce Éireann’s slow progress in designing and delivering the solutions needed at the waters most affected by wastewater discharges are prolonging impacts on water quality. Uisce Éireann must prioritise the prompt delivery of these essential works.”

The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive sets general European wide treatment standards for large towns and cities. Ten areas, including Dublin, failed these basic standards in 2023. Wastewater discharge licences issued by the EPA to Uisce Éireann may specify more stringent standards than those in the Directive when such standards are necessary to prevent and reduce pollution of waters. Over half of licensed treatment plants discharge wastewater that does not always meet these licence standards.

Noel Byrne, EPA Programme Manager, said:

“Wastewater discharge licences issued by the EPA set out the treatment standards needed to prevent pollution by wastewater discharges and protect our rivers and coastal waters. It is unacceptable that over half of licensed treatment plants do not always meet these standards, with issues ranging from short term breaches of treatment standards up to continuous discharges of raw sewage. The short term breaches should be resolved through effective management and maintenance of equipment. Uisce Éireann must address infrastructural deficits at the priority areas highlighted by the EPA during its 2025 to 2029 investment cycle. This will help deliver significant environmental benefits and protect water quality.”

The report includes a range of recommendations for Uisce Éireann, including the need to speed up its overdue assessments of how wastewater discharges impact shellfish waters, and to collect better information about discharges of untreated wastewater through storm water overflows.

The report is now available on the EPA website.

Further information: Emily Williamson, EPA Media Relations Office 053-9170770 (24 hours) or media@epa.ie 
 
Notes to Editor

Environmental priorities

Investing in wastewater treatment at priority areas highlighted by the EPA is helping to protect and restore our environment. However, treatment at many areas is still not as good as it needs to be, and wastewater is impacting the quality of water in rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters. It will require significant national investment and, based on Uisce Éireann’s estimates, at least two decades to bring all treatment systems up to the standards needed to protect the environment. As all the problems cannot be fixed in the short term, it is important that Uisce Éireann directs the resources currently available to the areas where they are needed most and will bring the greatest benefits. The EPA identifies the following as priority areas for improvements:

• 16 towns and villages that were discharging raw sewage daily in mid-2024 (see map 1). This is down from 29 areas at the beginning of 2023.
• 10 large towns and cities where wastewater treatment did not meet European Union standards set to protect the environment (see map 2). Uisce Éireann is implementing plans to bring six of these into compliance by 2025 but upgrade works at the final four will not be completed until the end of the decade.
• 34 priority areas where wastewater discharges are adversely impacting the quality of rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters. Uisce Éireann’s lengthy delays in designing and then delivering improvements needed at most (27) of these areas are prolonging risks to water quality.
• 3 sewers or collecting systems which must be upgraded to prevent sewage pollution at beaches with poor bathing water quality in 2023.
• 12 towns and villages where wastewater treatment must improve to protect critically endangered freshwater pearl mussels. Uisce Éireann is taking too long to start the essential works needed at half of these areas.
• 6 towns and cities where collecting systems (sewers) must be upgraded to protect the environment and address the findings of a 2019 judgement from the Court of Justice of the European Union.
  The EPA website lists the priority areas and the environmental issues at each area. It also shows when and how Uisce Éireann plans to resolve the issues at each area.

Map 1: Sixteen towns and villages discharging raw sewage in mid-2024

Map 2: Ten towns and cities that failed the European Union standards set to protect the environment