Toxins in Cork village’s water

HOUSEHOLDERS in a mid-Cork village have been advised to “run off” tap water to remove excessive build-ups of metals including lead, nickel and cadmium from a drinking supply.

At a county council meeting yesterday, Cllr Michael Creed (FG) was informed pipes serving some houses in the Crookstown area were made of lead and were being corroded by acidic water from local wells.

Assistant county manager Declan Daly said wells serving the houses had very acidic pH levels and they were likely to be causing the corrosion problem on older lead mains pipes in the area.

He said the council had taken samples from a number of houses in the area and found excessive lead levels.

However, more recently, council officials also discovered nickel and cadmium in excessive quantities.

They put this down to acidic water corroding pipes, although they said those metals were likely to have “leached” through corroding in internal house pipes and fittings.

The HSE said the water would be safe if it was run off for a short period, especially first thing in the morning, or any time when the water may have been sitting stagnant in service pipes for an extended period.

The council is to start adding alkaline solutions to the water to reduce acidity.

Cllr Andreas Moynihan (FF) wanted to know if re- testing would take place on water samples once the pH levels had been adjusted.

He said in previous similar cases the emphasis had been on replacing lead pipes, rather than tampering with acid/alkaline levels.

Mr Daly confirmed re-testing would be done.