Ireland is on course to miss its national and EU targets to restore water bodies to what’s officially classed as ‘good ecological status’ by 2027, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Despite some small improvements, overall water quality across Ireland continues to fall.
The EPA’s flagship Water Quality in Ireland 2019–2024 report paints a troubling picture of widespread pollution and slow progress in cleaning up Ireland’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters.
Just 52% of surface waters are currently in satisfactory condition, a 2% decline from the previous assessment.
“This is not just an environmental issue; it’s a national crisis,” said Dr Eimear Cotter, Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment.
“Our rivers, lakes and estuaries are the lifeblood of our landscape. But they are struggling to cope with ongoing pressures and lack the resilience to recover.”
The report identifies excess nutrients from agriculture and urban wastewater as the main drivers of pollution.
While targeted interventions have helped reduce nutrient levels in some areas, the EPA says the scale and pace of these efforts remain insufficient.
“The improvements we are seeing in certain regions are being cancelled out by declines elsewhere,” the report states.
More than half of Ireland’s rivers are in moderate, poor or bad ecological condition.
Transitional waters, areas where rivers meet the sea, are in the worst shape, with 70% found to be in an unsatisfactory state.
One example of this would be the Shannon Estuary, where pollution levels have continued to rise in recent decades.
Coastal waters are performing somewhat better, with 82% achieving good or high ecological status.
Groundwaters, where underground water exists buried in rock and sand, have shown the most success, with 92% meeting quality standards.
In a related report on wastewater treatment, the EPA revealed that 59% of Uisce Éireann’s treatment plants failed to meet environmental standards.
Nearly half of these failures were attributed to poor operational management.
While the volume of untreated sewage discharged into waterways has been halved since early 2024, delays in upgrading many wastewater facilities continue to damage rivers, lakes and coastal areas.
This has drawn fierce criticism from farming organisations, who argue they are unfairly blamed for pollution while public wastewater mismanagement is overlooked.
“The scale of preventable discharges from public systems is completely unacceptable,” said John Murphy, Environment Chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association, according to the Irish Independent.
“Farmers are working hard to reduce their impact, but they’re being punished while another arm of the State openly pollutes.”
The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN), a coalition of 25 environmental organisations, has called for immediate and robust action.
They warn that continued deterioration threatens aquatic biodiversity, including endangered species such as the freshwater pearl mussel and native salmon.
“Despite years of rhetoric, we are still not seeing the scale of action needed to reverse this trend,” said SWAN spokesperson Antóin McDermott.
Under the EU’s Water Framework Directive, all member states are required to achieve “good” water quality in all water bodies by 2027.
The EPA now concedes that Ireland is unlikely to meet this deadline without major policy shifts and the immediate implementation of protective measures.
The agency is calling for significant investment and more targeted actions in high-risk areas.