Raw sewage from 38 towns and villages flowing into our environment

• WASTE WATER FROM 57 areas across Ireland caused significant impacts on our rivers, lakes and coastal waters last year, according to a new report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• In its report on Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2017, it finds that Ireland is not investing quickly enough in infrastructure that is needed to treat our waste water. 
• While discharges of raw sewage from six urban areas have ceased, raw sewage from the equivalent of 88,000 people in 38 towns and villages is still flowing into the environment today.
• Furthermore, waste water treatment at 28 of Ireland’s 179 large towns and cities failed to meet standards set to prevent pollution and protect public health. 
• In the case of these 28 towns and cities, the EPA said it accounts for over half of the sewage collected in our public sewers.
• EPA’s director of the office of environmental enforcement Dr Tom Ryan said: “It is unacceptable that, 13 years after the final deadline to comply with treatment standards, there are still 28 large towns and cities discharging inadequately treated sewage that fails to meet these standards.