More than half of wastewater treatment plants in Ireland discharged wastewater that failed to meet national standards designed to prevent pollution over the past year.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in its Urban Wastewater Treatment in 2025 report, says failures at half of these plants were due to inadequate operation and maintenance.
Its annual report on wastewater discharges into rivers, estuaries and marine environments also noted that four more towns and villages had stopped discharging raw sewage following connection to new treatment plants.
However, the EPA says essential wastewater infrastructure upgrades needed to prevent pollution and protect the environment are “not being delivered quickly enough”.
The agency has identified 72 priority areas where action is most urgently needed to prevent pollution and protect the environment. Afloat reported on similar concerns in the EPA’s previous annual assessment.
These include 13 towns and cities that failed to meet mandatory European-wide wastewater treatment standards introduced more than 30 years ago.
Pat Byrne, Director of the EPA’s Office of Radiation Protection and Environmental Monitoring, said investment in new treatment plants is helping to protect the environment and delivering benefits for local communities, including Ramelton, Rathmullan and Milford in Co Donegal.
“However, EPA inspections continue to identify poor operational practices and inadequate maintenance of wastewater infrastructure, resulting in wastewater being discharged without proper treatment and adversely impacting water quality.
“Many of these failures could and should have been prevented, and Uisce Éireann must take immediate and effective action to address these failings.”
While operation and maintenance issues can be addressed in the short term, upgrading deficient infrastructure is a longer-term challenge because of the scale of work involved and the investment required.
The EPA’s list of priority areas where wastewater treatment must be improved is available on its website and downloadable below.
