Uisce Éireann failed to manage excessive aluminium level in Cork village water supply

EPA audit reveals excess alumninium and high turbidity — an indicator of pathogen and bacteria levels — in Glanmire in February and March

EPA sys concentrations of aluminium above recommended safety levels in Glanmire's public water supply on February 3 and March 2. Picture: iStock

An audit of the drinking water supply to a major village on the outskirts of Cork City found Uisce Éireann failed to suitably escalate and manage several incidents of excessive levels of aluminium and turbidity earlier this year.

An audit by the State environmental watchdog found there were concentrations of aluminium above recommended safety levels in the Glanmire public water supply on February 3 and March 2.

Inspectors from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also found high turbidity levels on February 6 and March 2, which were not suitably notified to the relevant authorities.

Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness of water caused by suspended particles and is an indicator of pathogen and bacteria levels.

The Glanmire public water supply provides drinking water from a treatment plant at Knockraha to a population of almost 6,800, with water sourced from tributaries of the Butlerstown River.

'Not properly maintained'

Inspectors also found the process used to remove or inactivate waterborne parasites like Cryptosporidium was not properly maintained for three hours on February 6.

The EPA said Uisce Éireann had not notified either it or the HSE about the incident.

The report said there was a further deficiency in the operational oversight of the Glanmire water treatment plant on March 2, which resulted in a further breach of the treatment process for approximately two and a half hours.

The EPA reported that water samples taken on the same date recorded a concentration of aluminium at almost twice the recommended safety level.

It said both incidents were the result of “operator error” and were not reported when they occurred.

Excess aluminium reported 23 days later

The audit revealed the high aluminium reading on February 3 was only reported to the EPA and the HSE some 23 days later.

Following further investigation, Uisce Éireann also notified the EPA the following day of elevated turbidity in water supplies between January 23 and February 20.

The water treatment plant had been shut down for several hours on February 1 because of the high turbidity level in treated water and again for a further 15 minutes the following day.

However, inspectors found that the plant had not shut down when turbidity was over three times the recommended level on February 6.

The report revealed inadequately treated water was sent to a reservoir for approximately three hours. It stated: 

The failure by Uisce Éireann to report these incidents prevented the HSE in determining the potential risk to consumer health on the Glanmire supply and also prevented any timely actions to protect consumer health. 

The audit concluded that the incidents were not managed or escalated appropriately “due to lack of oversight, alarms and appropriate operational management.” 

The EPA directed Uisce Éireann to submit a report detailing the actions taken or planned with timescales to close out recommendations made as a result of the audit.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

They included that there are clear steps to ensure water above the recommended turbidity level does not enter the reservoir.

The audit also recommended that Uisce Éireann should ensure that plant operators and management are fully trained on responding to incidents to ensure that incidents affecting drinking water quality are suitably escalated to protect public health.