The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 may have had an impact on some of the indicators (such as emissions to air, transport and energy) in this publication.
During the 2000-2021 period more than 80% of bathing sites surveyed in Ireland had good water quality, except for 2008 and 2012. Over 90% of sites surveyed had sufficient water quality over this period.
In 2021, 91% of bathing water sites surveyed had good water quality and 97% had sufficient water quality.
| Year | Sufficient water quality | Good water quality |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 98.4615384615385 | 91.5384615384615 |
| 2001 | 97.7099236641221 | 87.7862595419847 |
| 2002 | 97.7099236641221 | 84.7328244274809 |
| 2003 | 96.9465648854962 | 84.7328244274809 |
| 2004 | 97.7099236641221 | 87.7862595419847 |
| 2005 | 96.1832061068702 | 90.8396946564885 |
| 2006 | 96.9465648854962 | 90.0763358778626 |
| 2007 | 96.9465648854962 | 80.1526717557252 |
| 2008 | 93.1297709923664 | 77.8625954198473 |
| 2009 | 93.1297709923664 | 82.4427480916031 |
| 2010 | 96.9 | 90.1 |
| 2011 | 98.5 | 83 |
| 2012 | 97 | 66.9 |
| 2013 | 96.8 | 84.4 |
| 2014 | 94.1 | 86.7 |
| 2015 | 93.4 | 83.2 |
| 2016 | 92.9 | 85.8 |
| 2017 | 93 | 84.5 |
| 2018 | 94.5 | 86.2 |
| 2019 | 95.2 | 89.1 |
| 2020 | 95.9 | 89.2 |
| 2021 | 97.3 | 90.5 |
The quality of public water supplies as measured by compliance with E.coli standards increased from 98.9% in 2004 to 100.0% in 2020. Compliance of public group water supplies increased from 96.2% to 99.9%, while compliance of private group water supplies has increased from 78.1% to 98.3% over the same period.
The compliance rate of public water supplies for trihalomethanes (THM) has increased from 87.4% in 2009 to 97.3% in 2020. The compliance rate of public group water supplies increased from 70.4% in 2009 to 89.4% in 2020, while the compliance of private group water supplies increased from 89.4% to 93.5% over the same period.
| Year | Compliance of public water supplies with THM standard | Compliance of public group water supplies with THM standard | Compliance of private group water supplies with THM standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 87.4 | 70.4 | 89.4 |
| 2010 | 89.3 | 76.2 | 85.5 |
| 2011 | 91 | 87.1 | 93.6 |
| 2012 | 87 | 60.3 | 93.8 |
| 2013 | 92.1 | 79.8 | 94.4 |
| 2014 | 93 | 93.1 | 93.3 |
| 2015 | 91.5 | 87.2 | 95.7 |
| 2016 | 93.1 | 95.7 | 90.9 |
| 2017 | 94.3 | 96.6 | 96 |
| 2018 | 95.1 | 87.9 | 95.1 |
| 2019 | 96.1 | 89.2 | 97.5 |
| 2020 | 97.34 | 89.42 | 93.5 |
There has been a significant improvement in the level of treatment of urban waste water. In 2021 just 1% of urban waste water received either no treatment or preliminary treatment, compared with 46% in 1997. The proportion of urban waste water receiving secondary treatment increased from 22% to 59% over this period. In 2021 39% of waste water received secondary treatment with nutrient reduction, up from 4% in 1997.
| Year | No treatment/Preliminary treatment | Primary treatment | Secondary treatment | Secondary treatment with nutrient reduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-1999 | 41 | 33 | 21.5 | 4.5 |
| 2000-2004 | 30.5 | 21.5 | 39.5 | 8.5 |
| 2005-2009 | 10.3333333333333 | 1.33333333333333 | 74.3333333333333 | 14 |
| 2010-2014 | 5.08 | 1.52 | 70.44 | 23 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 4.2 | 1 | 68.3 | 26.5 |
| 2016 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 69.4 | 26.6 |
| 2017 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 66.6 | 30 |
| 2018 | 1.54 | 1.03 | 67.24 | 30.18 |
| 2019 | 1.44 | 1 | 67.17 | 30.39 |
| 2020 | 1.41 | 1.01 | 63.79 | 33.79 |
| 2021 | 1.13 | 0.98 | 58.95 | 38.95 |
There was a mixed picture concerning river water quality in Ireland in recent decades. The percentage of rivers and streams with bad or poor water quality decreased between 1987 and 2020. In 2017-2020 17% of rivers and streams were of bad or poor quality compared with 25% in 1987-1990.
The percentage of rivers and streams with good or moderate water quality increased over the 1987-2020 period from 49% to 66%.
However, the proportion of rivers and streams with high water quality declined from 27% in 1987-1990 to 17% in 2017-2020.
The proportion of samples with low volumes of nitrates (less than 5 mg/l NO3 milligrams per litre of nitrates) in groundwater increased from an average annual 16% in 1995-1997 to 26% in 2021. The percentage of samples with 5-10 mg/l N03 increased from 16% to 21% over the same period.
An error was discovered in Table 5.5. This was corrected on November 18th 2022.
