Water Quality

Waterfall

Courtesy of the EPA

Waterfall
Courtesy of the EPA

Waterfall

Courtesy of the EPA

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Lough Ennell

Lough Ennell in County Westmeath is roughly 3,200 acres in size.

Lough Ennell

Lough Ennell in County Westmeath is roughly 3,200 acres in size.

Enlarge image

Earth is a watery planet with over 70% of its surface covered by oceans. Life started in the oceans and all life on Earth depends on water for survival. An adult person is approximately 65% water and could not survive for more than a day or two without it. Water is life.

While there is a lot of water on the planet some 97.5% of it is salty and almost 2% of it is locked up as snow and ice around the North and South poles. More is stored deeply underground meaning only 0.025% of the total water on earth is contained in rivers lakes and in the clouds.

This water is distributed very unevenly across the world with many areas experiencing drought conditions. Warming global temperatures are exposing more areas to extreme drought and heat stress. Ireland is fortunate in having a plentiful supply of this vital renewable resource that falls as rain and returns to the sea through our rivers and lakes.

We use that water for agriculture, industry, power generation, waste disposal, washing and drinking and discharge wastewater, after treatment, to the environment. These discharges of wastewater affect the quality of the receiving waters and this quality is monitored and reported on regularly by local authorities and by the Environmental Protection Agency.

You can investigate water quality in Ireland using the interactive map on the EPA website and selecting 'water' and 'water quality' from the drop-down menu.