Untreated sewage is still being pumped into our seas and waterways from 38 towns and villages around the country.

A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency has warned that Irish Water is not investing quickly enough in waste water treatment infrastructure.

The report finds that raw sewage from the equivalent of 88,000 people is being pumped into the environment from the 38 areas.

Meanwhile, plants at Dublin and Cork are among the 28 around the country with waste water treatment facilities that fail to meet standards set to prevent pollution and protect public health.

The EPA said the deficiencies in many treatment plants and public sewers are due to a “legacy of underinvestment.”

However, spokesperson Darragh Page said Irish Water is not meeting its own targets for dealing with the issue.

“The level of investment by Irish Water is not up to what they have said in their own investment plan,” he said.

“Their investment plan committed to spending an average €326m per year on waste water infrastructure and what we have seen is in 2017 they only spent €215m.

“Clearly they are going to have to accelerate the pace of investment over the coming years to 2021 to make sure that they address these shortcomings that we are seeing in our report.”

The environmental agency said the issues are “unacceptable,” some 13 years after the country’s final deadline to comply with treatment standards.

Underinvestment

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Irish Water head of asset management Sean Laffey said the issues are the result of “decades of underinvestment.”

“But we are going to put that right now,” he said.

“The original 44 will be completed by 2021 and there was an additional number added by the EPA over the last couple of years – they will all be completed by 2023.”

European law

Mr Page said the European Court of Justice is currently considering its verdict in a case that was taken against Ireland over its wastewater treatment.

“We are awaiting the judgement from the European Commission on this,” he said.

“If we are found guilty there is a possibility of fines that could be imposed on Ireland as a result of our failure to comply with this directive.”

Long-term strategy

The EPA said it is “not possible to fix all the issues” with Ireland’s waste water treatment and warned that a “long-term strategy is required to address the shortcomings.”

It said it is essential that the resources that are available are targeted efficiently in the right areas to deliver improvements where they are most needed.

It said that in addition to the towns are villages that are falling below standards or discharging raw sewage, there are 57 areas where waste water discharges are the sole environmental threat to rivers, lakes and coastal waters at risk of pollution.  

Meanwhile, upgrade works are needed to protect four beaches with poor quality bathing water - Merrion Strand, Clifden, Loughshinny and Sandymount Strand.

The report also identified 15 areas where improvements are needed to protect critically endangered freshwater pearl mussels or to safeguard shellfish habitats and 13 sewers that need to be upgraded.