Families left with unsafe water for months
Friday October 16 2009
TEN areas across the country have been without safe drinking water over the past two months.
The hometown of GAA legend Mick O'Dwyer was among the places where a "boil water notice" has been served because of an e-coli scare. New figures show Waterville, in Co Kerry, was the worst affected of the 11 new areas which fell victim to the suspected contamination.
It had been without a guaranteed safe water supply for drinking, food preparation and brushing of teeth for a month along with 10 other areas in Cork, Waterford, Kildare, Wicklow and Donegal.
The Waterville boil notice was lifted, after four weeks, by Kerry County Council on September 22, but some residents are still boiling water as a safety precaution.
Mother-of-two Sam Reynolds continues to buy bottled water for her family's consumption, including her two young children, aged one and three. "The water still isn't great quality," she told the Irish Independent last night. "I wouldn't trust it. I'm still buying bottled water. The water is really chlorinated and it's got a funny taste. I wouldn't let my children drink it at all," she said. The Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee heard yesterday that around 2,000 people are currently affected by "boil notices" due to the presence of e-coli.
Ireland has had two deaths in 10 years from e-coli, which can cause severe illness with up to 10pc of patients developing HUS -- a condition often requiring blood transfusions and kidney dialysis. The State has spent €1bn on water services over the past five years in an attempt to improve water quality and is now instructing local authorities to publish water test results on their websites.
Fine Gael Galway West TD Padraic McCormack expressed concern about the situation in Galway city, where a cryptosporidium outbreak in 2007 left its 90,000 people without safe water. Department of Environment secretary general Geraldine Tallon cited agricultural run-offs into Lough Corrib as a major factor.
But Mr McCormack said she was ignoring the lack of sewerage treatment plants. "If local authorities are the main polluters themselves, what penalties have been imposed, if any, on them?" he asked.
- Michael Brennan and Allison Bray
Irish Independent
