My Department's allocation of €142m for the 2007 Rural Water Programme will fund the provision of water treatment and disinfection facilities that will improve water supplies to nearly 60,000 rural households served by group water schemes.
In the Action Plan for Rural Drinking Water Quality, a total of 728 privately sourced group water schemes were identified as falling within the remit of the Drinking Water Regulations. Upgrading solutions to ensure compliance with the Drinking Water Directive have been identified for all 728 schemes. 434 of the upgrading projects are now complete and a further 88 are underway. 118 schemes are at tender stage and the remaining 88 are advancing through planning with construction expected to commence later this year.
The latest published information in relation to drinking water quality standards generally is contained in the Environmental Protection Agency's publication The Quality of Drinking Water in Ireland — A Report for the Year 2005, which is available in the Oireachtas Library.