ABSTRACT
Water is a plentiful resource in Ireland and management problems result not from any inadequacy of the overall supply, but from the variety of conflicting demands on that supply and the technical problems of satisfying these demands simultaneously. The total water resource of a country may be assessed as the difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration. The analogy of a peat bog to a sponge is inadequate because sponges have to be squeezed to release their stored water and there is no natural squeezing mechanism for releasing water from peat. Surface waters supply 62% of water consumed in the Republic and 92% of that consumed in Northern Ireland. The rise of nitrate levels in groundwater has not been systematically monitored, although the growing significance of groundwater sources for public consumption both in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland, might suggest that this be done.
