European Union

Drinking Water Regulations

2014 S.I. No. 122 of 2014
Aleksandra Grujic S00219778
Danny Rogers S00219310
Gavin Mills S00228057
Contents:
• Statistics
• Legislations
• Compliance
• Monitoring
• Records
• Protection of human health
• Remedial action
• Departure from standards
• Prosecution and penalties
• Parameters
“We never know the worth
of water till the well is dry”

(Thomas Fuller)
Statistics / legislation
•  According to the WHO, at least 2 billion people globally, use a drinking
water source contaminated with faeces and contaminated drinking water is
estimated to cause 485,000 diarrhoeal deaths each year.
• Although the numbers affected by poor water quality greatly increase in
developing countries, they are issues not unfamiliar to ourselves here at
home. 
• ‘Boil water notices’ are an all too familiar concept, which require users on
a potentially contaminated water supply to boil their water before use in
order to kill any bacteria which may be present in the water. A boil water
notice in 2019 was issued to over 600,000 people due to a risk of
contaminated water supplies from the parasites, cryptosporidium and
giardia.
All drinking water must comply with “The European Communities (Drinking Water)
Regulations, 2014 (S.I. No. 122)”which set standards for 48 individual
microbiological, chemical & indicator parameters

Irish Water is responsible for monitoring the quality of the public water

The quality of drinking water is a powerful environmental determinant of health.

Water is essential to life and a person's survival depends on the availability of clean
and wholesome drinking water. Provision and management of safe and secure
drinking water not only supports public health and well-being but promotes socio-
economic development.
• The new EU (Drinking Water) Regulations 2014 were signed into law on
27th February 2014 and came into operation with immediate effect. The
previous drinking water regulations (2007) were revoked in their entirety.
• The 2014 regulations are effectively an update of the 2007 regulations to
reflect the provisions of Section 7 of the Water Services (No.2) Act 2013
which provide that certain water services functions, which were the
responsibility of the water services authorities, are transferred to Irish
Water.
• The 2014 regulations recognize Irish Water as the provider of
public drinking water supplies formerly supplied by Local
Authorities. They also recognize the continuing role of the
Local Authority as the supervisory authority for drinking
water supplies other than those of Irish Water (including
Group Water Schemes). The “Sanitary Authority”
terminology has been replaced throughout by Local
Authority or Irish Water as appropriate.
 The Drinking Water Directive applies to:

• All distribution systems serving more than 50 people or supplying more

than 10 cubic meter per day, but also distribution systems serving less than
50 people/supplying less than 10 cubic meter per day if the water is
supplied as part of an economic activity

• Drinking water from tankers

• drinking water in bottles or containers

• Water used in the food-processing industry, unless the competent national

authorities are satisfied that the quality of the water cannot affect the
wholesomeness of the foodstuff in its finished form
 Compliance
Water will need to be tested at:

• Supply lines from distribution network

• Point of use from tankers or similar means
• Point of use in food – production facilities
 Monitoring
• It is the responsibility of the local authority governed by Irish Water to
monitor all public water supplies.
• All water intended for human consumption shall be verified as fit for
purpose by Irish Water
• Samples taken from specified points
• Samples taken for this purpose shall be representative of the quality
of the water consumed throughout the year and shall be equally
distributed through the supply
 Records
A supervisory authority may direct a water supplier to keep such
records and to submit to it, in such manner and at such times and in
such circumstances as it may direct, such information as the
supervisory authority may specify in relation to—
The management & treatment of water intended for human
consumption
The monitoring of compliance with water quality standards or other
parametric values
Corrective action taken following a non compliance with water quality
Verification of the efficiency of a disinfection
 Protection of human health
If Irish water or the local Authority suspects the water intended for
human consumption is not fit for purpose they may ensure that:

The supply of water is prohibited or use restricted

Inform consumers & give appropriate advice

Remedial Action
• Irish water will investigate any failure to meet set standards in the set
out parametric values or the detection of pathogenic micro organism
• An offence shall be committed if a person fails to notify the relevant
supervisory authority
• Where remedial action is taken in relation to a water supply, the
water supplier will inform the consumer of the action
• A record of any non compliance will be kept by the water supplier &
will include - Date of incident – Extent & duration of failure – Cause of
failure – Details of any complaint received due to failure
 Departures from standards
• An application for departure shall contain such information as may be
specified by the agency.
• A departure granted shall have effect for as short a period of time as
possible, witch shall not exceed 3 years.
• The agency shall forward the relevant review to the minister, and
notify him or her of the departure and the reason for granting it.
• If Irish Water(public supply) or local authority(private scheme), is
granted a departure under this regulation, they shall ensure that
advice is given, where necessary, to particular population groups for
witch the departure could present a special risk.
Prosecution and penalties
• A prosecutions for a summary offence under these regulations may be
taken by the agency.

• A person guilty of an offence under these regulations is liable

• On summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 3 month, or both or
• On conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding 500,000 euro or
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or both
Parameters
• Drinking water parameters are tested to ensure that the drinking
water quality is of an acceptable standard, as set out in the European
Union (Drinking Water) Regulations 2014.
• Drinking water parameters are grouped into 3 categories:
• Indicator parameters are usually tested along with microbiological
and chemical parameters in a water sample. These parameters may
not necessarily pose a risk on their own, but they can indicate the
presence of other potentially more harmful parameters in a water
sample.
Parameters
• Chemical parameters are tested in drinking water samples to
determine if any chemicals present are within acceptable limits.
Chemical parameters that are present in drinking water samples can
be caused by chemicals dissolving into water from pipes, chemicals
carrying over from water treatment processes, chemical reactions
that can occur between different materials in the water, or even
runoff from farms.
• Microbiological parameters are microorganisms (i.e. bacteria) that
are tested in drinking water. The presence of these parameters in a
drinking water sample may indicate that contamination may have
occurred either at a water source or within the water distribution
network.
Parameters
• A drinking water exceedance occurs when a parameter value is above
the acceptable limit. When an exceedance occurs, steps are taken in
line with the Regulations, to ensure mitigation and remedial action
takes place swiftly to minimize effects.
“Stagnant water loses its purity
and in cold weather becomes
frozen; even so does inaction
sap the vigor of the mind.”
(Leonardo da Vinci)
 Thank You!
Mel thanks for all the effort & interesting lectures during the second
semester hopefully we’ll all meet again next year.
Enjoy the Summer
Aleksandra, Danny & Gavin