World of Politics with Harry McGee

Ireland’s land mass isn’t huge, but the State has a huge amount of waterway and water mass, with over 12,000 lakes and over 3,100 rivers – and that’s a massive resource.  As a kid, I’d be dragged out with my father to obscure places in the uplands of Connemara, to fish for sea trout on lakes and rivers.

Anyone who has walked the mountains of Connemara can attest to the hundreds of lakes that dot the vast boggy landscapes that run from the Twelve Bens to the sea.

The decline in the quality of water since then has been shocking. They were not able to measure all the waterways in the 1980s, but there were almost 600 in pristine condition. Now it has fallen to less than 20 and continues to decrease.

There has also been a sharp drop in the sea trout (and salmon population) since then, with little evidence that it will be reversed any time soon.

The deteriorating quality of water affects the south and southeast of the country most, but the west has not been left unscathed.

In its report on water quality published this week, the Environmental Protection Agency noted, for example, that the quality of 17 of the 30 water bodies in the Corrib Catchment Area had declined.

The main finding of the EPA report is that just over half (52 per cent) of our surface waters are in satisfactory ecological condition. That’s a deterioration from the previous assessment for 2016-2021, where 54 per cent of surface water bodies met their water quality objectives.

And the culprits? Excess nutrients from agriculture, urban wastewater and other human activities remains the biggest factors, followed by changes to physical habitat conditions.

The EPA notes that at the current level of progress, Ireland will fail to meet the EU and national goal of restoring all waters to good or better status by 2027.

So just over half our water bodies are in a satisfactory condition. And by the time the next assessment happens it could have dipped below 50 per cent.

Estuaries and coastal lagoons are in the poorest condition of any waterbody type, with 70 per cent in an unsatisfactory condition, up from 64 per cent in the last assessment. That is shocking.

There is some good news; 92 per cent of groundwaters are in good condition. Canals are also in relatively good condition with 87 per cent achieving their water quality targets.

Pictured: Water quality…shocking decline.