THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Agency (EPA) has warned that “more action is needed” as many private water supplies are not being monitored. The EPA has launched its 2025 report on drinking water quality in private water supplies. There are around 370 private group schemes supplying drinking water to more than 194,000 people in rural communities across Ireland. However, the EPA has warned that drinking water quality in private supplies “continues to fall short of what’s achieved in our public water supplies”. Private Group Schemes with E.coli failures 2025 EPA EPAMeanwhile, small private supplies continue to have poorer E. coli compliance than public water supplies provided by Uisce Éireann, with 67 supplies failing the standard in 2025 – a compliance rate of 95%.