The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN), representing 25 of Ireland’s leading environmental NGOs, has warned that the recent EPA Urban Wastewater Treatment Report [1] demonstrates that pressing failures persist due to inadequate management and slow infrastructural delivery, posing serious risks to water quality, public health, and biodiversity. More urgent action is needed by Uisce Eireann and the government to address this significant ongoing issue.
Despite welcome reductions in raw sewage discharges, the report concludes that 59% of Uisce Éireann’s sewage treatment plants have non-compliant discharges polluting our rivers, lakes, and seas. Importantly, they found that over 40% of these failures were avoidable, caused by poor plant operation, equipment breakdowns, and inadequate maintenance, training, or procedures—issues that do not require major investment. Since 2016, the EPA has prosecuted Uisce Éireann 28 times for breaches of wastewater discharge authorisations.
However, major infrastructural deficiencies do remain, but works have not even started at half of the 78 priority areas identified.
Antóin McDermott, SWAN Advocacy and Communications Manager, said
“We must ask as a country, are we happy that the vast majority of our sewage plants are dumping untreated or poorly treated sewage into rivers, lakes, and coastal waters—threatening public health and wildlife habitats? Issues with sewage pollution are often written off with excuses about the amount of time and investment needed being too great for urgent action; however, this report shows that more than 40% of these pollution failures are down to issues that could be rapidly addressed, such as poor plant operation and inadequate maintenance, and training.
With the major infrastructure needed, the fact that half of the 78 priority areas identified have not even had works started shows the lack of urgency that is being put in here and once again exposes the continual lack of priority that the government puts on making our Irish rivers, lakes, and seas healthy again despite the rhetoric.”
With 165 of our rivers, lakes, and seas significantly polluted by sewage discharges, we need much faster timelines and clearer plans for these that outline how the avoidable failures outlined in the EPA report will be addressed swiftly with measures such as robust training and preventative maintenance at all plants, and much more urgent timelines on major infrastructure.”
[1] Urban Wastewater Treatment in 2024 (EPA 2025) https://www.epa.ie/publications/monitoring–assessment/waste-water/Urban-Wastewater-Treatment-in-2024-report.pdf