Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

207 Chapter 8: Water A measure in the Water Action Plan will be the establishment of a programme delivery office in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to oversee and coordinate governance and implementation. This has the potential to significantly improve oversight. Infringement cases Of the 14 active environmental infringement cases against Ireland, five relate to water. 12 These are a failure to correctly transpose the WFD (open since 2007); a breach of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) (two cases dating from 2013 and 2023); a failure to address trihalomethanes in drinking water (open since 2017); and a failure to finalise plans for the management of river basins. The number of infringement cases, failure to fully resolve them in a timely manner and the significant delays in publishing both the second and third cycles of the RBMP point to a lack of priority given to water policy and management by consecutive governments over decades. 12 ec.europa.eu/atwork/applying-eu-law/infringements-proceedings/infringement_decisions/ (accessed 24 June 2024). 13 www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/01/29/urban-wastewater-council-and-parliament-reach-a-deal-on-new- rules-for-more-efficient-treatment-and-monitoring/ (accessed 3 July 2024). The recast Drinking Water Directive ((EU) 2020/2184) and revised Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 13 are bringing new and more stringent requirements for water services. It is essential that these directives are fully implemented within the time frames required to protect water quality and health, and that all the outstanding requirements of the WFD are implemented. Community and stakeholder engagement There has been a strong emphasis in recent years on improving public participation and community involvement in the protection of waterways. The water community officers at the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) have established themselves as contact points for local communities across the country. A growing number of groups are getting involved in caring for their local water environment, ranging from angling and sports clubs and Tidy Towns and community development associations to local catchment groups and river trusts (Topic Box 8.3). Topic Box 8.3  Community projects Examples of community projects include the Blue Dot Explorer project and (overleaf) the East Corrib Alliance project.