30,000 threatened by water bug in Clare

Green Party Deputy Mayor of Clare Cllr Brian Meaney has said the people of Clare are set to face the same water bug outbreak affecting Galway and has accused the Government of total indifference on the issue.

A cautionary boil notice has been in place in the county for two years, warning those with low immune systems not to drink tap water.

Cllr Meaney said: “Despite the installation of a filtration system, the cautionary boil notice has been in operation in Ennis and the surrounding area for the past two years. Cryptosporidum is already in the water supply and it may only be a matter of time, before levels surge and an outbreak occurs, like that which is now affecting Galway.

“Confidence in the Ennis water supply is low and bottled water is expensive. Hotels and businesses have to inform guests to the town to avoid drinking the water if they are vulnerable. Chlorination doesn’t solve the problem, which has been caused by human and animal sewerage contaminating the water supply at source.

“It seems that this problem is of little consequence to the Government, unless the problem becomes so bad that it may cost them votes. A lack of infrastructure and a failure to update a dated water supply that leaks millions of litres of water a day, has led to the situation we find ourselves in today. It is time to lance the boil notice and fast track a full treatment plant for Ennis, before 30,000 Clare people, already at risk, fall ill.”