A Kerry river is one of three nationally in bad condition, according to the EPA.
The Environmental Protection Agency has today published its Water Quality in 2025: An Indicators Report.
The Environmental Protection Agency is warning, the country's cleanest rivers are continuing to decline despite ongoing efforts to improve water quality.
Its latest report shows no significant overall improvement in water quality during 2025, with nutrient pollution remaining a major challenge.
The EPA says agriculture and wastewater are the main sources of excess nutrients entering waterways.
It shows over half (54%) of river water bodies are in high or good biological quality, with the remaining 46% in moderate, poor or bad quality.
Three water bodies are in bad condition; these include stretches of the Folies Stream within the River Laune catchment in Kerry, the Ahavarraga Stream in Limerick, and the Clareen (Nenagh), a tributary of the Nenagh River in Tipperary.
The EPA reports also shows nearly all (97%) estuaries and coastal waters assessed were in satisfactory condition for phosphate.
Only three of the 119 water bodies assessed, the Maigue estuary and the Deel estuary in Limerick and the Cashen Estuary, Kerry, were in unsatisfactory condition for phosphate in 2023-2025 having exceeded the relevant threshold.
The EPA says agriculture and wastewater are the main sources of excess nutrients entering waterways.
Water program manager with the EPA Jenny Deacon says the declines are widespread:
