More than a million at risk from polluted tap water

MORE than one million people are drinking tap water from public supplies on an official pollution "name-and-shame" dossier finally published yesterday.

The 339 public supplies listed -- many of which are identified as not removing deadly bugs properly, such as cryptosporidium -- provide drinking water to 1,260,541 people.

The damning list, affecting more than a quarter of the population, was finally published yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

For the past three months, the agency had refused to identify 339 supplies -- more than one-third of the country's total supplies operated by the local authorities.

Affected householders had been kept in the dark. But yesterday, following an EPA board meeting, the State environment agency released the list of all the supplies.

It paints a worrying picture of the potential risk to human health from deadly cryptosporidium and E-coli bugs, excess aluminium and nitrates linked to cancer and blue baby syndrome.

more from the Dublin Independent (IRL)