Ireland’s water environment is in crisis. Water quality is declining and water pollution is rising at an unprecedented rate. Despite the requirement of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) that all our rivers, lakes and coastal waters should be ecologically healthy by 2027, numerous EPA reports have highlighted ongoing declines in water quality.

Presently, more than half of our rivers, lakes and estuaries are in an unhealthy state (47%, 50% and 62% respectively) and river water pollution is on the rise. Furthermore, we’ve lost most of our pristine river stretches, down from over 500 in the late 80s to a mere 41 today. Read More