Measures needed to improve water quality in Ireland to EU standards

Measures need to be implemented in order for the water quality in Ireland's rivers and lakes to meet European targets.

The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has released its Water Quality in Ireland 2007-2009 report, which showed that 30 per cent of the nation's rivers are polluted.

It found there has been an improvement since 2004-2006, with the number of seriously polluted rivers halved from previous figures.

The findings also highlighted that while 90 per cent of lakes in the country were in a "satisfactory" condition, there were 25 lakes which were a cause for concern as they had high levels of phosphates.

Michael O'Cinneide, director of the EPA Office of Environmental Assessment, noted that while there has been an improvement in the water quality in Ireland's waterways, "further actions are essential if we are to achieve our water quality targets for 2015 and 2021 as required by the Water Framework Directive".

This means that a "good status" must be achieved by all rivers by 2015 from European member states.

Posted by Joseph Hutton