The level of water pollution in the State's rivers and lakes is "truly alarming", the Labour Party said today.
Speaking after the publication of three reports into the quality of water in Ireland, the party said local authorities were to blame in their failure to use powers to act against polluters.
The reports were published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has criticised the local authorities concerned for failing to introduce adequate measures to protect against water pollution in rivers and lakes.
"This contamination has contributed to growing incidences of gastroenteritis. Local authorities are culpable in their failure to act against polluters who dump fertilisers, slurry and sewage into rivers and lakes," party spokesman Mr Eamon Gilmore said.
The Green Party's environment spokesperson, Ms Mary White called the report "extremely worrying" and said that while the figures have improved "it seems unbelievable that in the year
2004 we are still experiencing serious problems countrywide with drinking water quality."
She said a "more targeted and integrated approach from the EPA and Local Authorities to solving water pollution problems" was needed and called for Local Authorities "to institute more stringent testing in order to gain a more accurate picture of the drinking water problem."
The figures reveal that nearly 40 per cent of Irish rivers and lakes fail to comply with quality standards, while in 2001, one-quarter of the waste from public sewerage schemes being discharged into lakes, rivers and estuaries was untreated.
The reports further indicate an increase in pollution levels in four counties, while more than half of the rivers in a further six counties had levels of phosphorus pollution which breached EU limits.
The research highlights the problem of contamination in small-group water schemes, with a quarter of the schemes found to have some level of animal or human waste contamination.
But scientists with the EPA said the reports give grounds for "cautious optimism", and indicated that major investment programmes in water and sewerage schemes have improved water quality in the past four years.