Kerry Council prioritises quality of Lough Guitane’s drinking water

AN improvement in the quality of drinking water from Lough Guitane — one of the main sources in Kerry — was a major priority this year, Kerry County Council pledged yesterday.

The lough has inadequate treatment for cryptosporidium, the bug that affected supplies in Galway for several months last year. The lake, outside Killarney, serves a population of 56,000.

An Environmental Protection Agency report found it was one of a number of water sources so affected in Kerry, but most of the others serve less than 1,000 people.

Lough Guitane supplies the towns of Tralee and Killarney and large stretches of rural Kerry.

An outbreak of cryptosporidium could have devastating consequences for the tourism industry locally.

Last year, a leading water quality consultant warned that Lough Guitane was at “significant risk” of contamination by the bug which caused a crisis in Galway where people had to boil their water before using it.

Prof Tom Casey, who was engaged by Kerry County Council in the preparation of a new treatment plant at Lough Guitane, made a number of recommendations to the council regarding source protection, the management of farmyard practices around the lake and fencing the lake boundary.

He said that while the Lough Guitane water was of exceptional quality for raw surface water, it was at significant risk of contamination by cryptosporidium, as presently treated.

Council spokesman Padraig Corkery yesterday said 98% of water supplies in Kerry complied with EPA standards.

He also said more monitoring and testing was carried out in Kerry than in any other county.

“Major water schemes in Kerry have not recorded any contamination, nor have we had any incidents of cryptosporidium,” Mr Corkery said.

About €50 million is to be spent on water treatment projects in Kerry in the next three years.

Improvements at Lough Guitane will be one of the key jobs to advance this year.

Thirteen of the 16 farmers around the lake are in the REPS scheme which promotes environmentally-friendly farming.

Meanwhile, Kerry County Council has decided not to proceed with the adoption of proposed bylaws regulating farming activity around Lough Guitane, as it believes the Nitrates Regulations provided are adequate. But, the buffer zone around the lake, in which land-spreading is banned, is to be increased by the council in accordance with the Nitrates Regulations.