'Water boil' notice set to be lifted for e-coli residents
Monday September 17 2007
People living in Galway city's largest suburb are keeping their fingers crossed that the latest water supply crisis will end this week.
Still reeling from five months of having to boil all tap water as a result of an outbreak of the bug cryptosporidiosis in the city supply, up to 15,000 residents of the Knocknacarra area have been back on kettle duty again since last week.
This time it is because of the much more serious e-coli organism. Every home in Knocknacarra was issued with formal instructions by the City Council to boil all water for human consumption, as well as for brushing teeth.
Furious city councillors demanded answers from Council officials at a special emergency meeting on Saturday. The under-fire officials said it was hoped that, in consultation with the HSE, the 'water boil' notice could be lifted as early as today.
Successive tests of the Knocknacarra water supply over the weekend have all been negative for e-coli.
Director of Services, Kieran Hayes, stressed that it was not raw sewage seeping into the public water supply that had caused the e-coli contamination. The problem had occurred during a planned diversion of the water supply during ongoing drainage works at the Clybaun Road in Knocknacarra.
But councillors were unhappy at the lack of clarity and have demanded a full written report for a further meeting next week. Councillors also want a full report on the circumstances of the cryptosporidium outbreak, which effectively shut down all city taps from mid-March until last month.
Former Mayor, Cllr Catherine Connolly, said that public health and safety was now a major concern.
"We are now in a position where this accident has happened and we have no clear knowledge as to how or why it happened and our great fear is that it could happen again. We need these issues to be clarified," she said.
Cllr Connolly added: "Health and safety is the big issue ... It is just very difficult and we have now arranged a further formal meeting in the hope of getting a full written report."
The City Council has said that it will look at the possibility of arranging for free water to be distributed in the Knocknacarra area if the 'water boil' notice is not lifted by today.
