Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

195 Chapter 8: Water Figure 8.5  Chemical and quantitative status of groundwaters, 2016-2021 0.4% Chemical status Quantitative status ˜ Good ˜ Poor 8% 92% 99.6% Source: EPA, 2022 Changes and trends in water quality Water quality has been monitored in Ireland since the 1970s. The WFD came into effect in 2001 and the baseline year for assessment is the 2007–2009 monitoring period. Despite two cycles of river basin management planning, successive EPA reports show that, while progress has been made in reducing the number of the worst-polluted ‘bad’ sites, the percentage of sites in satisfactory condition (good or high status) has declined since then. The most recent full EPA assessment (EPA, 2022) reported further declines in all water categories, most significantly in the quality of our estuaries (15.7%) and coastal waters (9.5%). The declines were associated with increased nitrogen losses to the marine environment, particularly in the south and south-east of the country (Figure 8.6). Figure 8.6  Ecological status of monitored surface water bodies (including rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters) in each of the main assessment periods, from the first assessment in 2007–2009 to the most recent assessment period (2016–2021) 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 16 24 27 33 485 494 450 357 847 777 714 676 1121 1192 1202 1085 268 230 289 329 2007-2009 (2480) 2010-2015 (2682) 2013-2018 (2717) 2016-2021 (2737) ˜ High ˜ Good ˜ Moderate ˜ Poor ˜ Bad Source: EPA, 2022