Failures to meet the E. coli standard in private group schemes reduced to 14 in 2025, down from 24 in 2024.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its Drinking Water Quality in Private Group Schemes and Small Private Supplies 2025 report.
It comes as investment of €175 million to improve drinking water quality for rural communities not connected to Uisce Éireann networks across Ireland was announced this week as part of the Capital Funding Programme for the Rural Water Sector 2027-2029.
There are approximately 370 private group schemes supplying drinking water to more than 194,000 people in rural communities across Ireland.
There are also 1,600 small private drinking water supplies such as hotels, schools and nursing homes sourcing drinking water from wells registered, however the total number remains unknown as there is no legal requirement to register.
Unregistered supplies are not sampled by local authorities and may unknowingly be providing unsafe drinking water to consumers.
In 2023, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage identified the need to strengthen the governance, oversight and management of private water supplies.
Progress on implementing measures to address this has been slow, the EPA said. A key first step is to make registration a legal obligation for small private supplies.
Small private supplies continue to have poorer E. coli compliance than public water supplies provided by Uisce Éireann, with 67 supplies failing the standard in 2025.
Further breaches
Some 17 private group water schemes supplying a total of 19,362 people failed another key drinking water quality standard in 2025 – the one set for trihalomethane.
This represents only a minor improvement on 2024, when 19 schemes failed to meet the standard.
“While there has been some improvement in E. coli compliance in group schemes, the continued failures in several private group schemes shows that more action is needed,” EPA director of the office of radiation protection and environmental monitoring Pat Byrne said.
“Local authorities must work closely with suppliers to identify the causes of failures and ensure corrective actions are put in place.
“Where suppliers do not act, or where failures persist, local authorities must escalate enforcement action, so consumers are protected.”
“While there has been some improvement in E. coli compliance in group schemes, the continued failures in several private group schemes shows that more action is needed,” programme manager Noel Byrne commented.
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