Irish Water to face grilling over discoloured water in Cork city

The utility said it has received around 600 calls about water discolouration since the new water treatment plant on the Lee Road became operational in July

The water treatment plant being constructed last year on the Lee Road. It has been using caustic soda to rebalance the pH of water.

Irish Water is set to be grilled about the quality of drinking water in Cork city after a spate of complaints since it began using caustic soda in its process at the city’s new water treatment plant.

Officials from the utility will be invited to appear before Cork City Council’s environment strategic policy group (SPG) following hundreds of complaints from across the city in recent months about discoloured water flowing from peoples’ taps.

The utility said it has received around 600 calls about water discolouration in the city since the new water treatment plant on the Lee Road became operational in July, but that not all of these calls were related to the change in the chemistry of its treatment process.

It said the processes it uses are the same used throughout the world for water treatment, and it insisted that Cork's water is safe to drink. But it has advised customers not to drink discoloured water.

The issue was raised at Monday’s council meeting by Fianna Fáil Cllr Tony Fitzgerald, who said he has received several complaints from people about brown or orange water flowing from their taps.

He said he visited the home of a mother and her four-week-old baby, and the home of another woman with breast cancer, to investigate their complaints about discoloured water, and said they were all afraid to consume the tap water, opting instead to drink bottled water.

“It was a real concern for the parents, waiting and waiting to see what the cause of the problem was," he said.

"We need Irish Water to explain how this is happening, and to ease concerns. I think it’s a health and safety issue now."

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The Irish Examiner has now confirmed that Irish Water changed the chemical it uses to rebalance the pH of water following the commissioning of the new Lee Road water treatment plant during the summer. A spokesman confirmed that since July 29, it has been using the pH correction chemical sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda.

“The pH correction chemical in use at the older plant was calcium hydroxide-lime. Both these chemicals are commonly used across Irish Water for pH correction,” he said.

The change impacted some of the older pipes in the network, causing sediment to come loose and cause a discolouration of the water being supplied to customers. The utility said it has since altered the chemistry involved and is monitoring the results.

“Irish Water is continuing to investigate intermittent customer complaints regarding some discolouration of water,” he said. “We have carried out extensive testing and sampling of water supplies throughout Cork city.

“The results have been shared with the EPA and the HSE. We can confirm that the water is safe to drink." However, Worker’s Party Cllr Ted Tynan said he “doesn’t trust Irish Water”.