The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) annual report on the quality of Irish drinking water has, in recent years, made for chilling reading; nowhere more so than with the issue of rural water supplies. The 1998 figures are just as disturbing, particularly in regard to group water schemes which supply one-fifth of the State's households - 42 per cent of the 5,500 schemes involved were found to be contaminated with coliform bacteria; two-thirds of these with faecal coliforms indicating the presence of sewage or farm wastes such as slurry.
What is most worrying is the marked deterioration recorded for these schemes at a time when the Government is allocating significant funding to rectify an appalling infrastructural deficit in partnership with the National Federation of Group Water Schemes and local authorities. The EPA scientist who compiled this comprehensive report, Dr Paddy Flanagan, admitted that with such high levels of bacterial contamination, many people, in rural areas especially, were drinking water from their taps when they should not be. Irish health and sanitary authorities, it seems, have been fortunate to have avoided a water-related epidemic.
The picture for public supplies generally is a lot more reassuring. Yet here too, the fundamentals of proper water management are often lacking. This is demonstrated graphically by the extent of excessive levels of fluoride, aluminium and trihalomethanes found in supplies. These suggest an absence of proper disinfection; one of the most basic requirements of a decent water supply.
With so many shortfalls in Irish infrastructure - such as roads, rail and public transport - and despite a tigerish economy, we have had to get used to a long turnaround in plugging gaps. To the credit of the Minister for the Environment, there is evidence of a systematic approach to redressing the problem despite absence of any significant improvement so far. This certainly goes beyond throwing money at it, though the National Development Plan is committing £420 million for the upgrading and renewal of rural water supplies. Those responsible for a "quality deficient" private group water scheme will in future be required to draw-up an action programme for improvements, Mr Dempsey stressed.
It will have to be done in consultation with the relevant local authority. Moreover, new regulations are now on a statutory footing. The Minister insists effective measures are being put in place to improve the quality, reliability and efficiency of rural supply systems. Yesterday's EPA report is heavy on the initiatives and approaches to tackling the problem, but the figures provide little comfort that tangible improvements will materialise soon when they are urgently needed.