Water report ‘shocking’

People deserve to feel safe drinking water in their own homes and when a problem arises it needed to be communicated clearly and quickly, Declan Breathnach TD has said.

He was speaking in the wake of a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which found that the Tallanstown Water Supply was contaminated for nearly 12 days before a Boil Water Notice issued.

He described the contents of the report as ‘shocking’ and said answers were needed from Irish Water.

The EPA found that this delay in issuing a Boil Water Notice to 1,900 people ‘posed an unacceptable risk to public health for the consumers of Tallanstown Public Water Supply’.

Breathnach commented, ‘ The EPA discovered that the treatment problem began on 19 July, was not escalated to Irish Water until the 26th and then the Boil Water Notice was not put in place till 30 July.

‘ That’s almost two weeks of people in MidLouth potentially drinking contaminated water. To make matters worse even though the Boil Water Notice has been partially lifted, 600 people served by Tallanstown are still under a Boil Water Notice.’

He continued, ‘Serious questions need to be asked to Irish Water on how they allowed this delay to happen.

‘Communication from Irish Water has been very poor during Boil Water Notices, which was illustrated recently after 600,000 people served by the Leixlip Plant were put under Boil Water Notice.’

The Tallanstown audit said the contact time for chlorine used to ensure adequate disinfection of the water supply was not suitably controlled and managed at the treatment plant.

Irish Water was only notified of the problem on 26 July.