Third of Irish rivers and a quarter of lakes fail water quality standards

 source: The Irish Times.

More than a third of Irish rivers and a quarter of lakes are failing to meet environmental quality standards due to high levels of polluting nitrates and phosphates, according to a new assessment.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s report for 2019 finds that more than a fifth of groundwater, which is a critical source of drinking water, has high nitrate concentrations, as does a fifth of estuarine and coastal water bodies. Just over half of rivers and lakes have high or good biological quality.

The main threat to water quality is the presence of too many nutrients in the form of phosphates and nitrates arising from agriculture and waste-water discharges. “Nutrient concentrations in waters are too high and the trends are going in the wrong direction,” the EPA’s Water Quality Indicators report finds.