Latest Northern Ireland drinking water statistics indicate that high standards were maintained during 2022 despite a dip in monitoring during the first three months because of the Covid-19 outbreak.
During last year, almost 100,000 tests were completed. The overall compliance for the mains water supply was 99.91%. The results are based on samples taken from water treatment works, service reservoirs and consumers’ taps.
Private water supplies monitoring was completed for 99.77% of scheduled parameters in 2022.
Lough Neagh supplies 40.% of the drinking water within Northern Ireland. This summer the Lough suffered from pollution issues including particularly high levels of algal blooms.
Chief executive of the quality watchdog, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Paul Donnelly, noted that, in the current financial climate: “It is important that NI Water receives appropriate funding to ensure drinking water quality is maintained in the future,” as the publicly-owned company approaches the mid-term review of its latest price control review. Northern Ireland Water supplies most of the region’s tap water
Funding NI Water is currently a fraught political issue given the absence of a devolved government. The UK government is known to be contemplating introducing water charges for domestic water customers.
Currently the Northern Ireland Executive pays a subsidy to Northern Ireland Water in lieu of domestic consumers’ contributions.
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