Health scare forces households to boil all water

PEOPLE in four west Limerick parishes are having to boil all drinking water over Christmas due to an ongoing health scare.

More than 250 households in Adare, Ballingarry, Croagh and Kilfinny have been boiling tap water since last October due to an outbreak of Ecoli 0157, which can be highly dangerous when contracted by young children.

The houses are connected to the Kilfinny Group Water Scheme.

To date there have been 18 cases of Ecoli 0157 diagnosed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and two children with the infection had to be transferred from the Mid-Western Regional Hospital to Temple Street children’s hospital in Dublin.

A childcare centre and classes in a local school were closed down for a period.

While the local water supply has not been linked to the Ecoli 0157 outbreak, another contaminant was found in the water supply.

Doctors from the HSE said the Ecoli 0157 bacteria was spread by person to person contact and warnings were issued to parents to ensure rigorous hand washing regimes, particularly when children had used the toilet.

Local county councillor Tom Neville is one of those affected.

He said: “We have been boiling water now for over two months, before we can use it for drinking or cooking. It is very difficult for people, particularly at Christmas time.”

However, he said two water samples taken over the past three weeks had been given the all clear.

He added: “Hopefully another all clear sample will enable the boil notices to be lifted.”

Mr Neville has called on Limerick County Council to give the Kilfinny Group Water Scheme priority in the upgrade of group schemes planned by the council.

He said: “There has been no link between the Ecoli outbreak and the water.”

Dr Tessa Greally of the HSE Mid-West has been dealing with the outbreak of Ecoli 0157 in the area with a public health team.

She has called on local GPs to “maintain a high index of suspicion of any cases of diarrhoea which present” and submit stool samples for laboratory testing.

A spokesman for the HSE (Mid-West) said there had been no new Ecoli cases since November, but the boiled water notice was still in effect.

He said: “There is no definite cause for the outbreak and no Ecoli has been found in the water.”