Irish Water criticised over widespread boil water notices 

At the end of the first quarter of this year, there were 21 active boil notices in place across the country, many of which are long term. Picture: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

The number of long-term boil notices issued by Irish Water is a concerning trend that is “a huge frustration and burden for communities”, the utility’s watchdog has said.

At the end of the first quarter of 2022, 20 of the 21 boil water notices in place across the country were in place for longer than 30 days, according to a new report from the Water Advisory Board (WAB).

One such notice was in place affecting 9,482 residents in east Cork. The boil water notice had been issued for the Whitegate public water supply on Christmas Day in 2021. It was only lifted on June 3 this year, almost six months later.

The board said that in such instances, the solution to fix the problem with the plant could not be addressed quickly, and requires significant investment by Irish Water.

Paul McGowan, the chair of WAB said:

 Under normal circumstances the WAB expects that no consumer should be on a long-term boil water notice.

“The WAB notes this disappointing trend, and will continue to monitor Irish Water’s progress in this area."

Worrying decline

Elsewhere in its latest update on Irish Water, the WAB noted that the utility’s performance declined in almost all customer complaints management metrics in 2020.

Mr McGowan said it would “reasonably expect” to see improvement year-on-year in this area, so to see it decline is a concern.

In the first quarter of 2022, Irish Water replaced 1,607 lead service connections, against a target for the full year of 10,000.

It has said it has increased its budget in this area, and expects to significantly increase these numbers as the year goes on, and exceed its 10,000 target.

Irish Water has a target of less than 3.6% of properties to have an unplanned interruption to their supply for more than 24 hours by the end of 2024. 

In 2020, this figure was 7.6%, and the WAB said Irish Water is “not currently on track to meet this target”.

The board also said it has a “significant concern” over whether Irish Water can meet its targets around untreated wastewater discharges.

The WAB is of the view that a discharge of untreated wastewater is an environmental concern for a wide range of stakeholders across Ireland, and is not acceptable.

 It added that : “The WAB will continue to monitor Irish Water’s performance against this metric.” 

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, a senior inspector at the WAB called for significant investment by Irish Water to address the issue of water quality.

Michelle Minihan pointed out that today alone, there were 22 boil water notices in place, serving about 5,500 people, and 18 of those notices are long term.

“It is a huge frustration and burden for communities that are affected by it,” she said.

In a statement, Irish Water said it has made “enormous strides” in identifying and addressing risks to public drinking water supplies in recent years.

For areas still affected by such notices, it said it has plans to “address the underlying issues and put in place long-term, sustainable solutions to remove the restrictions and prevent any recurrence in the future”.