Irish Water's arrangement with 31 local councils 'no longer fit for purpose' 

Just weeks ago, 52 people fell ill in Gorey, Co Wexford, after a serious incident involving the water treatment plant there.

Irish Water says its current arrangement of working alongside 31 local authorities “is no longer fit for purpose”.

In a submission to the joint Oireachtas committee on housing, Irish Water managing director Niall Gleeson said recent pollution issues show there is an “urgent need for change”.

His comments come just weeks after 52 people fell ill in Gorey, Co Wexford, after a serious incident involving the water treatment plant there.

An incident arose when a power failure and a chlorine pump failure resulted in water leaving the plant and entering the public supply without the appropriate level of disinfection between August 19 and August 24.

The incident was not notified to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the HSE until August 26.

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A second incident, at Dublin's Ballymore Eustace plant, which serves about 877,000 consumers in the greater Dublin area, also saw unsafe water enter the public drinking water supply.

Mr Gleeson described the two incidents as "drinking water failures".

In his submission, Mr Gleeson is due to say today: “The current service level agreement, where Irish Water works alongside 31 local authorities to deliver water services, is no longer fit for purpose.

The issues that have arisen at the water treatment plants in Dublin and Wexford clearly show the limitation of the present ways of working and emphasise the urgent need for change.

“Irish Water has legal responsibility but no direct control over water treatment plants around the country.”

And he added: “We need to be clear that this is not a criticism of the thousands of experienced water services professionals working in the local authorities.

“We want to address structural issues so that individuals on the ground can avail of clear lines of communication and national support systems that a single organisation can provide. 

“Drinking water incidents can, and do, occur and it is essential that we put the best possible structures and systems in place to reduce the frequency of such incidents, and to deal with them effectively when they do.”

Of the two incidents, he said: "I would like to apologise again for both incidents.

"While equipment failure and human error can occur, late reporting of issues relating to the process failures at the plants, left us unable to react and compromised water quality."