Ballingeary water supply removed from EPA blacklist

WORKS AIMED AT REMOVING BALLYHOOLY SUPPLY FROM LIST TO BE COMPLETED THIS MONTH

THERE was welcome news for residents in Ballingeary this week after Irish Water announced the area’s local water supply network has been removed from the Environmental Protections Agency’s (EPA) Remedial Action List.

The company has also revealed works to remove the Ballyhooly supply in north Cork from the list will be completed by the end of this month.

First published in 2008 and updated on a quarterly basis, the list is a register of public water supplies identified by the EPA with the most serious deficiencies and are deemed to be ‘at risk’ of failing to provide a consistent supply of safe, clean drinking water.

The EPA instructs Irish Water to submit an action programme for the improvement of each supply on the list and, in cases where these programmes have not been prepared or implemented to their satisfaction, has been know to issue enforcement action. This can include issuing legally binding directions ordering that specific works be undertaken to ensure the safety and security of a water supply.

Over the past 12-years 314 (or 93%) of the supplies listed have been addressed, with issues addressed including the disinfection of E. coli, barriers to Cryptosporidium, adequate treatment for trihalomethanes (chemicals formed when organic material in treated water reacts with chlorine) and operational controls for managing aluminium and turbidity (cloudiness) levels.

The Ballingeary supply, which feeds almost 250 households and businesses, had been listed after its treatment system was deemed ‘inadequate’ due elevated levels of trihalomethanes and other contaminants.

To address this Irish Water in conjunction with Cork County Council carried out upgrading works at the Ballingeary supply plant over the past 12-months which included the instillation of carbon filter units, an ultra violet transmittance unit, a booster pump and associated pipe-works.

Paul Cremin, regional lead with Irish Water, said the removal of Ballingeary from the list means the local community now has a “clean, safe and reliable supply of drinking water”.

However, he did say the publication of the latest Remedial Action List at the end of last month confirmed that while progress is being made “the scale of the challenge faced by Irish Water in ensuring the delivery of clean and safe water in

Cork and throughout the country remains”.

The latest list contained 52 supplies, including six in Cork. Among them is the Ballyhooly supply, which serves a local population of almost 1,200 people.

According to a 2017 audit report undertaken by the EPA elevated levels of Cryptosporidium, a microscopic parasite that can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal illness, had been detected in the local drinking water supply.

The agency recommended the upgrading of the local waster water treatment plant, including the installation of a “suitable barrier against Cryptosporidium to ensure the water supply is adequately treated”.

The EPA had set an ‘action programme completion’ date of August 2020 for the project. A spokesperson for Irish Water said the company was on target to meet that deadline.

“Works on the installation of UV (ultra-violet) system at the Ballyhooly plant were progressing well during the first quarter of this year. However, due to delays as a result of Covid-19 restrictions, it is now anticipated that works will be complete later this month, and that the required information and data to demonstrate the effectiveness of the works would be collated and submitted to the EPA for consideration for removal of the supply from the Remedial Action List,” said the spokesperson.