The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Urban Wastewater Treatment in 2023 report, released today (Friday, October 11), highlights a 45% reduction in the number of towns and villages discharging raw sewage, since the start of 2023.
However the EPA has cautioned that wastewater treatment at many areas is not good enough to prevent wastewater discharges from impacting the quality of rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters.
The agency said that 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 report stated.
Town and villages and raw sewage
The EPA has identified 73 priority areas where improvements in wastewater treatment are most urgently needed to protect the 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% 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,” he added.
The EPA has said that without an ambitious and sustained investment programme to build out wastewater treatment infrastructure, it could take over two decades to achieve the required standards to protect the environment.
The EPA has criticised Uisce Éireann stating that at an operational level, the utility’s slow progress in designing and delivering the solutions needed at the waters most affected by wastewater discharges, is prolonging impacts on water quality.
Wastewater treatment
The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive sets general European-wide treatment standards for large towns and cities.
10 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 necessary.
Over half of licensed treatment plants discharge wastewater that does not always meet these licence standards, according to the agency.
EPA programme manager, Noel Byrne, 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,” he said.
The report includes a range of recommendations for Uisce Éireann, including the need to speed up its assessments of how wastewater discharges impact shellfish waters, and to collect better information about discharges of untreated wastewater through storm water overflows.