The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prosecuted Uisce Éireann on 11 occasions between 2022 and 2023 for discharging inadequately treated waste water into the environment.

The prosecutions related to discharges in Kilkenny, Roscommon, Mayo, Meath, Tipperary, Louth, Cavan, Donegal, Kerry, Clare and Cork.

The EPA said that its role as the regulator is to identify key issues in relation to waste water treatment, call these out and require that they be resolved.

“EPA is to the fore in raising public awareness and highlighting the unacceptable practice of discharging raw or inadequately treated sewage into our rivers and seas and will continue to do this until the issue is resolved,” it stated.

Last week, the EPA’s Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2022 report found that raw sewage is flowing into rivers and coastal waters from 26 towns and villages around the country.

The report found that Uisce Éireann has made progress in stopping discharges of raw sewage over the past year, however waste water continues to harm the quality of many of Ireland’s rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters.

Standards

While works to upgrade treatment plants and prevent pollution are progressing in some areas, Uisce Éireann’s delays in other areas are “prolonging the risks to the environment and public health”, the EPA said. The EPA report also found that 30 years after it was required to bring provisions into force to comply with EU treatment standards set to protect the environment, less than half (45%) of waste water is treated to these standards.