Inquiry to probe Galway water crisis

AN INDEPENDENT investigation is to take place into the Galway water crisis which left 90,000 people without clean drinking water for five weeks.

Galway City Council members agreed on the draft terms of reference for an inquiry at a meeting on Monday night. Councillors have been given until the end of February to submit changes they would like to see made to the terms of reference. The council will then open a public procurement process and put out a tender to seek an independent consultant to carry out the inquiry. Their main task will be to investigate efforts by some members of the council to decommission the Terryland treatment plant before the outbreak.

The plant had an inferior infiltration system which was blamed for the presence of cryptosporidium in the water that came out of taps in 45,000 households in the city and county.

The inquiry will also examine issues surrounding the granting of government funding under the Water Services Investment Programme. It will review the performance of the council in dealing with the crisis and their actions following the introduction of the boil water notice in March 2007.

The E-coli outbreak in Galway following the lifting of the boil notice is not included in the draft terms of reference, but is expected to be included in the final review at the request of some council members.

More than 20,000 households were left without water once again in September when e-coli was discovered in tap water in the west of the city.

The inquiry will be given a time frame of three months and, according to the council, will “make a number of recommendations arising out of the review”.