Families in North told to boil water in safety alert

A water safety warning affecting 220,000 households across the North is likely to last throughout today, officials confirmed.

Residents of nearly a quarter of a million properties have been warned to boil their cooking and drinking water after fears that supplies may be contaminated.

Northern Ireland Water said the scale of the warning was one of the largest it had recently dealt with, but said it issued the advice as a precaution after samples showed water may be contaminated.

Company spokesman David Dangerfield said they had yet to identify the cause of the possible contamination and said the alert was likely to remain in place throughout today.

In a statement, the firm said: “Northern Ireland Water has identified a potential quality issue with the water supplied from Dunore Point water treatment works.

“Having liaised with the health authorities, NI Water is advising customers, as a precautionary measure, to boil water for cooking and drinking.

“Approximately 220,000 properties are affected.”

The alert has hit the greater Belfast area and swathes of Counties Down and Antrim.

The specific areas affected include Antrim, Ballyclare, Ballymena, Belfast, Broughshane, Carnlough, Carryduff, Castlereagh, Crumlin, Dundonald, Dunmurry, Glenarm, Glenavy, Holywood, Kells, Newtownabbey, Randalstown, Templepatrick, and Toomebridge.

The company said: “Further testing will continue until samples have returned to normal. Customers will be notified as soon as their water can be used without boiling.”

Mr Dangerfield said staff had first been alerted to the problem late yesterday afternoon but could not alert the public until normal procedures, including liaising with health officials, were completed.

For information and advice customers can contact Waterline on 08457 440088 or visit the Northern Ireland Water website on www.niwater.com.

The company added today: “NI Water apologises to customers for the inconvenience caused.

“NI Water would like to thank customers for their patience and co-operation and assures customers that we are doing everything possible to resolve this issue as quickly as we possibly can.

“Each year NI Water tests thousands of water samples from our water treatment works, service reservoirs and tap samples in our customers’ homes. This allows us to measure how we are performing against set quality standards.”