An EPA audit of the Scariff and Mountshannon Water Treatment Plants and Public Water Supplies has found that neither facility had adequate measures in place to prevent contamination of the local distribution network.
The Environmental Protection Agency carried out separate inspections at the East Clare sites on November 23rd last year.
The intention of both audits was to assess Uisce Eireann’s performance in producing clean and wholesome drinking water.
The first installation inspected on the day was the Mountshannon Public Water Supply, which serves a population of 713.
The audit found that there was no barrier in place to prevent the parasite Cryptosporidium, which causes the Diarrheal disease Cryptosporidiosis, from entering the water supply.
The treatment plant then, did not comply in one area of assessment relating to management control and twelve areas relating to critical monitoring, equipment and controls.
Among the issues identified was that no shutdown system was in place to prevent inadequate levels of Chlorine from entering the distribution network.
Attentions then turned to the Scariff Public Water Supply, which serves a population of 851.
Here inspectors found that there was also no effective Cryptosporidium barrier and that the abstraction source was not adequately protected from the risk of contamination.
It was also confirmed that staff at the Scariff Water Treatment Plant had not received any incident response or escalation process training.
The EPA ultimately ordered Uisce Éireann to implement 8 safety recommendations without delay at each site.
