Cork couple resort to bottled water for newborn's formula due to discolouration issue

“It is certainly not clear, and it hasn’t been clear since the start of August,” Diarmuid said.

A Cork couple has been advised by doctors not to use their discoloured tap water for their newborn baby’s formula.

Caroline and Diarmuid have been struggling with a water discolouration issue in their home for the last 44 days.

“We can have a look at it in the morning and everything is fine, we’ll use the tap again later that day and it is various levels of brown/orange. It is certainly not clear, and it hasn’t been clear since the start of August,” Diarmuid said.

The couple who live on the north side of the city, lodged a complaint with Irish Water weeks ago but say the issue has yet to be resolved.

“Irish Water did send a member of the city council to look at the water and to take a couple of samples last week, but they came back to say whatever is in the water is fine, it is drinkable,” he said.

However, the couple have been very reluctant to use the water as they have a newborn baby at home. Before taking their son home, almost six weeks ago, the new parents reached out to their doctor and public health nurse to express concern.

They said the water should be okay to bathe him in, but for formula, they recommended buying bottled water.

“Evian is the only one they’ve approved, we’ve been told to boil that and not use our tap water,” Diarmuid said.

Irish Water guidance

The couple feel let down by the lack of support from Irish Water and are becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation.

“What is disappointing from our perspective, is that senior management within Irish Water aren’t really owning this issue or supporting us fast enough.

“The only guidance Irish Water has given us is ‘you flush the water, let it run in your tap for 20 minutes.

“We were in the middle of a heat wave in August and doing that is counterproductive to all sorts of ecology reasonings and rationales that I’d have, so we were reluctant to do that and waste water,” he said.

According to Diarmuid, Irish Water has flushed the area a couple of times in the last 44 days but claims this has not fixed the problem.

“They’ve flushed the area a couple of times now, over the month and a half, but that hasn’t solved the issue. So doing that again is a bit redundant, it is almost the definition of insanity when you do the same thing and expect a different result.

“That hasn’t worked and doing it again or hearing that they are going to do it again, doesn’t fill me with any confidence,” he said.

'Unacceptable'

Local councillor Tony Fitzgerald has urged Irish Water to rectify the problem. 

"It has been going on for over 40 days now. The water is discoloured on the property. This family has a newborn baby and I share their concerns in terms of the quality of the water. 

"They have substantial amounts of water bought and I’ve been on to Irish Water again this morning as this is unacceptable. I have asked them to urgently call to the property and ensure that this is rectified."

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Irish Water said it appreciates the inconvenience this can have on customers, adding that it has looked into the issue.

"Investigations were carried out in the affected areas to identify the source of these water issues and remedial actions were carried out," the utility said. 

"There are certain areas of Cork city where there are old cast iron mains, and unfortunately, when there are breaks or other interruptions, this can lead to discolouration in the network. This usually clears by flushing in the mains, and also by the customer running their taps."