Millstreet businesses hit by boil water notice to be compensated
IRISH WATER is set to compensate non-domestic customers in Millstreet who were affected by the recent issuing of a boil water notice covering a number of areas across the locality.
Local county councillor John Paul O’Shea (Ind) has welcomed confirmation that farmers and business owners impacted by the notice are to see a reduction in their upcoming water bills.
The boil water notice was issued on May 19 last on the advice of the HSE as a precautionary measure following the detection of what were described at the time as “low levels” of cryptosporidium in the local water supply.
The notice affected areas including Millstreet Town, Ballydaly, Laught, Drishane and Keale.
The previous December the HSE said it believed there was no need for a boil water notice to the supply, 90% of which is sourced from the uncovered Tubrid Spring.
This despite the fact traces of cryptosporidium had been found in the supply on five separate occasions over the previous two months.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) subsequently added the Millstreet supply to their remedial action list and in their audit report issued several recommendations to Irish Water about the action they felt needed to be taken to address the issue.
These included making sure the Tubrid Spring was fenced off and secured to prevent animal access and that a small hole over the clear water sump be sealed to prevent contamination to treated water.
The EPA also ordered that an ultra violet (UV) transmittance monitor, which Irish Water had admitted had been offline periodically since it was installed last May, be “operational at all times.”
One of the key recommendations was that Irish Water install a suitable barrier against cryptosporidium as soon as possible in order to ensure the Millstreet public water supply was “adequately disinfected”.
Irish Water said they had identified this as a vulnerable supply due to the lack of adequate treatment and had been carrying out regular testing on the supply to ensure there was no threat to public health.
The company said that in order to address the disinfection issue they had allocated funding of €210,000 for the provision of two UV disinfection units, micro filters and ancillary works at the Millstreet Water Treatment Plant.
The notice was subsequently lifted on June 14 following the completion the works.
Cllr O’Shea said Irish Water had confirmed to him that business owners and farmers would receive an up to 40% discount in their upcoming bills.
“The boil notice had a significant effect on the local business and farming community. It can be hard for anyone to survive without water for a day, never mind nearly a month, so I believe it is only right and proper that customers will have a discount charged for the 28-days they were without water on the next bill,” he said.
“Customers will not need to do anything to receive this discount, it will automatically be applied to the bill covering the specific period,” he added.