Poor wastewater management harming the environment - EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency has warned that poor management of wastewater treatment plants by Uisce Éireann is harming the environment.

A new report found that in 2025, 55% of wastewater treatment plants in Ireland discharged wastewater that failed to meet EPA standards.

The EPA's report released yesterday - "Urban Wastewater Treatment in 2025" - found that roughly half of failures were due to deficient infrastructure, while the other half were due to poor operation and maintenance.

It found that "common problems include equipment breakdowns and inadequate procedures and training".

"The number of sites affected by such issues remains far too high, with no significant improvement compared to 2024," the report said.

"Operation and maintenance issues can and must be addressed by Uisce Éireann without delay," the report said.

"Ensuring all treatment plants are effectively managed will significantly improve compliance with licence standards and reduce discharges of inadequately treated wastewater without the need for major capital expenditure."

Niall Horgan, Uisce Éireann Wastewater Compliance Senior Manager, said: "We have made significant progress in recent years, but we know there is more to do."

He said Uisce Éireann had invested €2.5bn in modernising wastewater treatment services since 2020.

Noting the EPA's concerns about failures linked to operational issues he said that they were "delivering improvements in terms of organisational structures, training and procedures".

The EPA report identified 72 priority areas where it said action was "most urgently needed to prevent pollution and to protect the environment".

They included 13 large urban centres in six counties (Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin and Louth) where wastewater treatment plants failed to meet EU standards in 2025.

One of these was Ringsend in Dublin. However by the end of 2025 significant upgrade works had been completed, which should see it performing better in the 2026 report.

'Progress remains too slow'

EPA Programme Manager Noel Byrne said the delivery of "critical infrastructure projects", such as those in Ringsend, was "encouraging".

However he said that "progress by Uisce Éireann in delivering works at many [of the 72] EPA priority areas remains too slow, with around 60% of these areas still not started. This is prolonging impacts on the environment."

The list also includes 11 towns and villages that saw daily raw sewage discharges in 2025.

Avoca in Co Wicklow was on the list. A new wastewater treatment plant is under construction in Avoca and is due to open next year.

It was among 50 raw sewage discharge sites identified when Uisce Éireann was established in 2013.

"It took a long time to build this plant," Mr Byrne said.

Mr Horgan said it was "important to remember that these things do take time in terms of getting the necessary consents in place, whether it's planning permission, land acquisition [and] EPA licenses".

Uisce Éireann said it has eliminated 85% of raw sewage discharges, with wastewater treatment projects completed or under way at 41 of the 50 sites identified in 2013.

The EPA report also identified 35 priority areas where wastewater discharges were adversely impacting the quality of rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters.

'Taking too long'

The EPA said "Uisce Éireann is taking too long to start delivering the improvements needed at three-quarters (26) of these areas, and these delays are prolonging impacts on water quality".

The report identified nine areas where improvements were needed to protect the habitats of critically endangered freshwater pearl mussels.

While it said another five areas needed upgrades to protect waters designated for shellfish.

In 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union found that Ireland had breached the requirements of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive at 28 urban areas.

In 2025, the European Commission acknowledged progress in addressing compliance at 20 of these areas but considered that the remaining eight were still in breach and referred Ireland back to the court requesting financial sanctions.

Separate to this case, the European Commission began a new infringement procedure against Ireland in 2024, alleging further failures to comply with the directive.

"The likelihood is that we will be paying significant fines as a country for not meeting our wastewater treatment requirements," Mr Byrne said.