Thousands in East Cork facing 'weeks' of boil water notice

Irish Water has said it believes it will be 'a matter of weeks, rather than months' before the notice is lifted. 

Irish Water has apologised for the inconvenience caused. File Picture.

The boil water notice affecting thousands of people in East Cork is set to remain in place for a few more weeks, Irish Water has admitted.

Heavy rain over recent days has resulted in high levels of turbidity at the Whitegate Regional Public Water Supply treatment plant at Kilva which has compromised water treatment. 

Irish Water said today that the boil water notice, which was introduced on the scheme on February 1, is likely to remain in place for another few weeks at least.

Efforts to resolve the issue

Neil Smyth, operations lead with the utility, said they are working hard to lift the notice as quickly as possible. 

“We wish to apologise to all of the homes and businesses impacted by this boil water notice," he said. 

We believe that it will be a matter of weeks, rather than months before the notice is lifted, however any decision to lift the notice will be made in consultation with the HSE.

The boil water notice affects around 6,500 people living in Whitegate, Aghada, Churchtown, Ballycotton, Cloyne, Saleen and Ballinacurra. 

A week after it was introduced, a mechanical issue occurred at the treatment plant.

Heavy rainfall

The repair work was completed last week and a technical assessment is underway to ensure the plant continues to operate correctly at this time.

However, the heavy rainfall over the last week or so has complicated matters, Irish Water said. 

In 2016, Irish Water added a new filtration system to the plant which enhanced water treatment, but the plant remains vulnerable to high levels of turbidity following heavy rainfall events in the catchment. The frequency of these rainfall events has increased in recent years.

Irish Water upgrades

Mr Smyth said: "We have been working over the last few weeks to deliver minor upgrades at the plant and monitor and test water quality across the network.

A combination of adverse weather conditions in recent weeks and the current heavy rainfall event are giving our teams an opportunity to monitor the plant's performance when turbidity levels are at their highest.

"The plant at Whitegate remains vulnerable to increased heavy rainfall events and our teams are prioritising the development of medium- and longer-term solutions for the plant. 

As we work to identify solutions, we will update the communities supplied from the Whitegate scheme on our plans. 

Irish Water says there is no need for customers on the affected supply to buy bottled water, insisting that once tap water is boiled and cooled, it is safe for consumption. 

The water is also safe for all other applications including personal hygiene, bathing and flushing of toilets.

A detailed map of the affected areas is available on the Irish Water website.