Boil water notice for 21,000 Cork homes lifted
Strike action earlier this week led to the precautionary boil water notice being issued to protect the health of customers supplied by the Glashaboy Water Treatment Plant which serves Glanmire, Glounthaune, Little Island, Carrigtwohill, parts of Midleton and surrounding areas
A boil water notice has been lifted for some 21,000 homes in Cork, Uisce Éireann and Cork County Council confirmed.
Boil water notices have also been lifted in Waterford and Tipperary.
Lifting of the notices followed consultation with the HSE.
Strike action earlier this week led to the precautionary boil water notice being issued to protect the health of customers supplied by the Glashaboy Water Treatment Plant which serves Glanmire, Glounthaune, Little Island, Carrigtwohill, parts of Midleton and surrounding areas.
Customers in those areas can now resume normal use of the water supply for drinking, food preparation and brushing teeth, a statement from Uisce Éireann stated.
An ongoing dispute between the Unite Trade Union and seven local authorities over terms and conditions of employment resulted in three days of strike action this week, which ended in Cork at midnight last night.
Uisce Eireann instated the boil water notice as a precautionary measure as full water quality tests could not be completed while some plants were being picketed.
But following a treatment plant assessment this morning and consultation with the HSE, Uisce Éireann and Cork County Council confirmed that the Boil Water Notice could be lifted immediately.
Uisce Eireann’s, Head of Water Operations, Margaret Attridge acknowledged the impact of the notice and thanked the local communities affected in Cork.
“Uisce Éireann’s primary focus remains the protection of public health. Due to the strike action arising from a dispute between the Unite Trade Union and seven Local Authorities, Uisce Éireann had no choice but to put this Boil Water Notice in place to protect public health. Once the strike ended, crews were mobilised immediately to carry out remedial works,” she said.
“I would like thank the communities across Cork who were impacted by the notice for their patience and support. We are also grateful to elected representatives and the media for their assistance in sharing information on the boil water notice over recent days.”
Uisce Éireann and Waterford City and County Council confirmed that the precautionary boil water notices affecting some 64,205 customers supplied by Adamstown, Stradbally and Ballylaneen Water Treatment Plants have been lifted following HSE consultation.
All customers served by these plants including Waterford City, Tramore, Dunmore East, Passage East, Crooke, Faithlegg, Cheekpoint, Stradbally, Ballylaneen, Kill, Bonmahon, Kilmeaden/Butlerstown, Ballyduff and surrounding areas can now resume normal use of the water supply for drinking, food preparation and brushing teeth.
And Uisce Éireann and Tipperary County Council confirmed that the precautionary boil water notices affecting approximately 4,585 customers supplied by Crotty’s Lake and Poulavanogue Water Treatment Plants have been lifted following HSE consultation.
However a boil water notice remains in place for customers supplied by Tipperary's Glenary Public Water Supply, which includes parts of Clonmel Town centre and surrounding areas including Cashel Road, Cahir Road and Ring Road; and the Kilcomma/Finger Post areas in Co. Waterford.
Uisce Éireann said it is working with Tipperary County Council to restore water supply as quickly as possible to over 30,000 impacted customers following a number of outages across the county.
Remedial works were delayed due to the industrial strike action which took place between Wednesday and Friday.
Following notification yesterday that the industrial action in Tipperary had ceased, crews were immediately dispatched to return supplies, Uisce Éireann said. Repairs have been completed, however, due to size of the network it could take until Monday for water supply to fully return to some customers especially those at the end of the network. Alternative water supplies will remain in place until normal supply has been fully restored to all customers.
All customers supplied by Glenary (Clonmel) Public Water Supply should now have supply returned. A boiled water notice remains in place for these customers and a further update will be provided tomorrow.
Reservoir levels supplying Carrick on Suir (Linguan) Public Water Supply are recovering. Some customers at higher elevations are still experiencing low pressure/loss of supply, however, all customers should have normal supply returned by later this evening.
The network served by the Galtee Regional Water Supply Network is starting to recharge with water already returned to many areas on the East of the scheme including: Bansha, Kilfeacle, Cashel and New Inn.
A burst watermain has occurred and repairs are under way which will delay the return of water to the Donaskeigh area until tomorrow.
On the West of the scheme it will take longer for water supply to return to all customers due to the size of the network. Customers in the following areas are still experiencing water outages: Ballyglass, Ardlamon, Ardavillane, Mount Bruise, Kilross, Ballywire, Roseboro, Lattin, Cullen, Limerick Junction and surrounding areas. Some areas will see water return today, however, customers at the extremities of the scheme and at higher elevations will not see normal water supply fully return until Sunday and possibly as late as Monday.
Water supply has returned to many areas on the Ardfinnan Regional Water Supply Scheme, however, water outages are still being experienced in Ballyclerihan Village, Lisronagh Village, Cahir Town, Poulmucka and surrounding areas. Water will continue to return throughout the day with full supply expected to return to all customers tomorrow, Sunday.
"Our priority during the dispute was the protection of public health and the environment through the delivery of safe, secure and sustainable water services and we did everything within our power to maintain safe water services and minimise disruption, where possible," a statement from Uisce Éireann said.
The Uisce Éireann Customer Contact Centre, open 24/7 on freephone 1800 278 278, is available to answer queries in relation to the lifting of this notice. Further information is available on www.water.ie.
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