Old piping in homes is one of the main sources of lead contamination in local drinking water supplies.
The Environmental Protection Agency is warning home owners to identify lead pipes and have them removed.
The highest levels of lead in drinking water were found during a test of drinking water from a tap in one part of Co Roscommon, when a sample was found to be 15 times the accepted level.
A new report released today from the EPA has also found that twenty private supplies across the country failed to meet the standard for E.coli.
Drinking water is provided by more than 380 group water schemes to approximately 200,000 people across rural communities in Ireland.
Speaking to the Joe Finnegan Show today, programme manager with the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement, Noel Byrne, says there are supports to help people replace problematic piping
For any individual who may have old lead piping in the house, there is a grant there to replace it. If you have lead piping in the house, you should be looking to get rid of it. That's where the lead is getting into peoples water supplies. So if you do happen to have lead in your supply, or in your individual house, because it's your own pipework there, you should have it taken out".
