Water quality in the State’s rivers and lakes is getting worse, with just 20 rivers having “pristine” conditions last year, down from more than 500 in the 1980s, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study has found. The EPA described as “of very significant concern” a finding that the number of “pristine river sites” had fallen to 20, which it said was at “an all-time low”. Some 13.4 per cent of sites were pristine in the period 1987-1990 compared with just 0.7 per cent of sites examined from 2016 to last year. EPA director Matt Crowe said the State was not only failing to improve overall water quality but was also failing to prevent the further deterioration of rivers. Surface waterThe findings are based on an analysis of biological and environmental data collected from 3,217 water bodies – 2,703 surface water sites and 514 groundwater sites between 2013 and last year.

Source: The Irish Times December 10, 2019 00:56 UTC