Irish Water has tempers boiling

“You would think in a developed country that running water would be something we would take for granted. That is not the case in my district.”

The words of East Cork Fine Gael Cllr Susan McCarthy who is calling for Irish Water to put supports in place for people subjected to repeated water outages and boil water notices.

Speaking at a recent full meeting of Cork County Council, Cllr McCarthy said people in her area have been issued with recurring boil water notices for over seven years.

She said in some areas, constituents are experiencing water outages as often as once a week.

“When are we going to say, 'enough is enough'? Fresh water supply is something that is so intrinsic to our everyday life. These boil water notices are affecting areas south of Midleton and all of Aghada, Whitegate, parts of Cloyne and all of Shanagarry and Ballycotton. It's 10,000 residents in total,” she said.

Her motion received widespread support amongst elected members including East Cork Sinn Féin Cllr Danielle Twomey who said there has been a boil water notice for all those supplied by the Whitegate public water supply since Christmas Day.

Cllr Twomey said this latest boil water notice has been more difficult than previous notices due to, she claimed, the lack of engagement by Irish Water with public representatives or the public themselves.

“The last update we as councillors received from Irish Water on this was Wednesday 16 February. There has been no engagement, no information since,” said Cllr Twomey.

Fine Gael Cllr for the Kanturk-Mallow municipal district, John Paul O’Shea, said he had experienced the same issue in his area.

“It’s the lack of communication from Irish Water that really drives me insane at times. We had a very similar situation in Newmarket public water supply a number of weeks ago and we couldn't get any information from them (Irish Water),” said the councillor. He continued: “I think it's important that when a boil water notice is put in place, that there is a weekly update issued to the media. If you're not on Twitter, you can't get an update from Irish Water. That's the reality. They don't send us emails. They don't respond to emails.”

Meanwhile, a boil water notice remains in place on Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay after a ‘do not consume’ notice was put in place in September last year.

Irish Water said that despite significant improvement works carried out at the treatment plant on the island, turbidity still remains higher than acceptable.

Niall O’Riordan, Operations Lead with Irish Water said: “A significant amount of improvement works were completed at the treatment plant, and we also engaged a specialist contractor to carry out additional works. However, following consultation with the contractor, the additional works aimed at lifting the boiled water notice have not been successful to date.”

Mr O’Riordan added that Irish Water has now begun assessing a previously drilled borehole on the island to see if it can be used as an alternative supply. “Irish Water and Cork County Council continue to work to rectify the issues at the Whiddy Island Treatment Plant with a view to lifting the notice as quickly and as safely as possible,” he said.

In the city, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould called on Irish Water to protect water supply to Gaeilscoil Pheig Sayers after the school was forced to close for a third time in recent weeks.

“The students have now missed four days of school because of this. I met with Irish Water about this, among other issues, in Leinster House recently and was given a commitment that the school’s water supply would be protected. This hasn’t happened and now the school is closed again,” said Teachta Gould.

A statement from IrishWater said: “Irish Water is committed to ensuring all our customers have access to safe, secure, and reliable public water supplies. Where risks to water quality are identified through our enhanced testing and sampling regime, a boil water notice may be issued, in consultation with the HSE, in order to safeguard public health.

“Irish Water provide an alternative supply when there is an outage for over a 24 hour period, or when the supply is not safe to consume. During a boil water notice, the water is safe to consume once boiled so therefore an alternative supply is not required. Every press release that is issued by Irish Water regarding water, wastewater, service interruptions are also issued to the councillors in the relevant municipal district. Our social media and website is also updated after each press release.”